Each year, Jackson EMC sends two area high-school students to learn about leadership.

The Washington Youth Tour brings together a group of over 1,500 highly talented, ambitious young people from across the country to experience our nation's capital and further develop their leadership skills. The tour was inspired by then Senator Lyndon Johnson at a National Rural Electric Cooperative Association meeting.

Jackson EMC selects its two tour delegates from the winners of the Energy Bowl and the Youth Citizenship Award. Each winner of these two events is awarded the all-expense paid trip for one week to Washington, D.C., along with an individual scholarship and a grant for the winning school or civic organization.

Before flying to Washington, D.C., students and chaperones spent a day in Georgia doing team building exercises and touring the Little White House in Warm Springs to learn more about the history of electric cooperatives.

Once in Washington, D.C., no stones are left unturned.  The delegation visits sites such as the Washington Monument, the Supreme Court, the U.S. Capitol, the Washington National Cathedral, Mount Vernon and Arlington National Cemetery; as well as the Jefferson, Lincoln, Korean, Iwo Jima, Vietnam Veterans and 9/11 Pentagon Memorials.  Other tour highlights include touring the Smithsonian Institute and the Holocaust Museums, Union Station, National Archives, Kennedy Center, a riverboat cruise and a dinner theatre show.

The Electric Cooperative Youth Tour has brought high school students to Washington, D.C. every June since the late 1950s. Students from throughout the United States are selected for this program by their local electric cooperative. Georgia has participated in the Youth Tour since 1965, and it is the premiere youth event for 38 of the 42 Georgia EMCs.

The next Washington Youth Tour is June 10-17, 2010.