(L-R) Joseph Brown, Bethlehem High School; Haley Bozeman, Blountstown High School; Jessica Baxley, Graceville High School; Dakota Davis, Ponce De Leon High School; Katrina Messer, Altha High School; Sara English, Vernon High School; Allison McDaniel, Sneads High School
and Ryan Neal, Marianna High School.

West Florida Electric Cooperative (WFEC) recently joined other co-ops from across the state in Tallahassee for the 2008 State Youth Tour.  During this two-day trip to the Capitol, local high school juniors chosen by their principals and guidance counselors for excellence,  and whose parents or guardians are members of WFEC, visited the Supreme Court where they heard oral arguments on a property dispute before the justices and participated in a Congressional Insight workshop conducted by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). The students also visited the Florida House of Representatives where they saw legislators debating and voting on bills. In addition, students toured the Museum of Florida History where they say the new Seminole People of Florida exhibit.

Contestants representing WFEC in Tallahassee were:  Katrina Messer, Altha High School; Joseph Brown, Bethlehem High School; Haley Bozeman, Blountstown High School; Caitlyn Prichard, Chipley High School; Jessica Baxley, Graceville High School; Dakota Davis, Ponce De Leon High School; Allison McDaniel, Sneads High School; and Sara English, Vernon High School. Ryan Neal, Marianna High School, is the son of WFEC employee, Mary Neal. Ryan represented WFEC in a separate essay competition for the children and grandchildren of employees and directors, sponsored by the Florida Rural Electric Cooperative Association. He also traveled to Tallahassee with the group.

WFEC’s nine Youth Tour contestants competed for an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. in June, where they will join other eleventh grade students from all over the United States to tour the nation’s capitol. A panel of three judges from the electric cooperative industry interviewed the students and chose two winners and an alternate on Tuesday, April 15, 2008. The winners were Haley Bozeman, Blountstown High School and Joseph Brown, Bethlehem High School. The alternate winner was Allison McDaniel from Sneads High School.

The Washington, D.C. Youth Tour Program has been in existence since 1957 when co-ops sent students to Washington, D.C. to work during the summer. By 1964, the program was catching on, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) began to coordinate the efforts of the co-ops. Since then, thousands of young people have experienced this opportunity.

(L-R) Alternate - Allison McDaniel, Sneads High School; Winner – Joseph Brown, Bethlehem High School;
Winner – Haley Bozeman, Blountstown High School.