On Friday, Dec. 15, applications will close for Empire Electric’s summer youth program sponsorship, which will send high school juniors to the Washington, D.C., Youth Tour or the Youth Leadership Camp near Steamboat Springs.
All high school juniors are encouraged to apply, and those who are chosen will be able to attend the program, all expenses paid.
Empire Electric covers the students’ program costs, including travel, lodging, food and more.
“Part of one of the principles of being cooperative is to give back to our community. We value education, so we offer scholarships, and we offer high school juniors, rising seniors, a couple of different opportunities to help them understand a little bit more about how coops work, what coops do in their community and to give them a chance to meet other other students,” Empire Electric’s Andy Carter said.
The Washington Youth Tour will take place June 17-23, and the Youth Leadership Camp will take place July 13-18 in Craig, near Steamboat Springs.
Students who attend the tour in Washington will begin the tour in Denver, where students from all of the state will visit the Capitol and be introduced to the state’s electric cooperative program.
Then, students head to Washington for a week with more than 1,800 other students. Students will visit the Arlington National Cemetery, walk through Smithsonian museums, tour historic monuments and meet elected officials, all while learning about the role of electric cooperatives in today's world, according to the announcement sent out by the Montezuma-Cortez school district.
“The Washington D.C. trip also designed to give them a better understanding some kind of real life, hands-on experience of how government works,“ Carter said.
Those who take part in the Youth Leadership Camp will also spend a week with other students from around the region. Around 100 students from Colorado, Kansas, Wyoming and Oklahoma will take part in the week, learning about “the cooperative business model and leadership skills that will serve them well throughout their life.”
As the students learn more about these facets of business, they will team up to form their own cooperative, electing board members and voting on issues facing their cooperative while participating in other activities that are used to grow the students as leaders and sharpening communication and teamwork skills.
“They bring all these high school kids together and they learn about leadership, they form their own cooperative board and work through issues and try to collaborate and work together. So it's just a way to help them get some practical hands on experience in leadership, how coops work as far as democratic rule and those kind of things,“ Carter added.
The announcement said there will be time set aside for students to enjoy the Colorado mountains by being able to take a raft trip on the Colorado River, take a gondola ride to the top of Mt. Werner and camp in the great Colorado outdoors.
Empire Electric will choose one student to attend the Youth Tour and five students to attend the Leadership Camp.
“We're trying to provide additional training for kids who are interested in being leaders, so it's not necessarily just for those going to college but for somebody who wants to pour back into their communities,“ Carter said. ”Some of it's based on grades and academics, but a lot of it's based on community participation, like do they do any volunteer work? Are they active in Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H or FFA? Do they serve in their church or work at the local food pantry?“
Interested students must fill out an application and write a short essay. The application can be found online at www.eea.coop/youth-trips.
