Palmetto, GA – April 21, 2011 – Northgate High School student Kier Prince will spend one week of her summer attending the 46th annual Washington Youth Tour, an all-expense paid leadership experience sponsored by the electric membership corporations (EMCs) in Georgia.
Palmetto, GA – April 21, 2011 – Northgate High School student Kier Prince will spend one week of her summer attending the 46th annual Washington Youth Tour, an all-expense paid leadership experience sponsored by the electric membership corporations (EMCs) in Georgia.
Selected by her local co-op, Coweta-FayetteEMC, Kier will be among 103 high school students on the week-long leadership event set for June 9-16, with stops in Atlanta, Warm Springs and Washington, D.C. In addition, Georgia’s students will join more than 1,500 students from 44 states for the event.
As Georgia’s oldest leadership program for teens, the Washington Youth Tour is designed to teach high school students about U.S. history, government and the importance of public service.
According to EMC CEO Anthony “Tony” Sinclair, the Youth Tour is an opportunity for exceptional students to personally meet with members of Georgia’s congressional delegation and to visit historical points of interest in the nation’s Capitol.
“Many adults have never made the trip to D.C., nor have they had personal meetings and conversations with their elected officials,” Sinclair said. “We’re honored to give these deserving students an experience where they will meet peers from across the country, make life-long friendships and learn firsthand the sacrifices made by others in order for them to live in a free society.”
Kier is the daughter of Natalie McBride of Palmetto. Upon graduation, she plans to attend Howard University and obtain a degree in either pre-law or political science.
Before flying to Washington, D.C., Youth Tour students spend a day in Georgia, where they visit Atlanta sites and tour the Little White House in Warm Springs. In D.C., stops include Ford’s Theater, the Smithsonian Museums, the Holocaust Museum, Union Station, Mount Vernon, the Supreme Court, the Capitol, the Washington Monument and the Jefferson, World War II, Lincoln, Korean War and Vietnam Veterans’ monuments and memorials.
The youth will also participate in a moving wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, view the United States Marine Corps Sunset Parade at the Iwo Jima Memorial, attend a Congressional meeting with U.S. Representatives and meet both U.S. Senators from Georgia.
The Washington Youth Tour was inspired by former president Lyndon Johnson who, in 1957, encouraged electric cooperatives “to send youngsters to the nation’s capital where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents.”
Coweta-Fayette EMC is a consumer-owned cooperative providing electricity and related services to over 74,000 member accounts in Coweta, Fayette, Heard, South Fulton, Clayton, Spalding, Troup and Meriwether Counties.
