Youth Tour
"The trip of a lifetime"

High School Juniors are eligible if they either reside or attend a school within Southwest Electric Cooperative’s service territory. The parents do not have to be members of the cooperative. Each contestant is required to write a 500-word essay on a topic provided by Southwest Electric Cooperative. Essays will be read and finalists chosen for an interview. Two winners will then be selected to represent Southwest Electric Cooperative for the 2012 Youth Tour.

The topic for the 2012 essay contest is “Keeping electricity reliable and affordable.  How do we do it?”  Essays are judged on the basis of knowledge of the subject, originality, composition, neatness and grammar.  

The essays will need to be submitted to the Southwest Electric Cooperative Headquarters, located in Bolivar at 1023 S. Springfield Ave., or mailed to Southwest Electric Cooperative at P.O. Box 150, Bolivar, Mo.  65613.  The deadline for submitting an essay is Friday, March 16, 2012, at 5:00 PM.   Essays will need to be submitted with an essay cover sheet.  Download a 2012 Cover Sheet. 

The submitted Essays will then be judged and narrowed down to the top 10, who will be invited to an interview with our judging panel.  The top two essay winners will be awarded the all expense paid trip to Washington D.C. with the Missouri Youth Tour, and the next two runner ups will be awarded the all expense paid trip to CYCLE, in Jefferson City.

Melynn Paylor, 2011 Youth Tour Winner, Hermitage High School.

Check out these Youth Tour videos on YouTube!
2011 Youth Tour Video.
2010 Youth Tour Video.
2009 Youth Tour video.

Download a 2012 Contestant Rule Sheet. 

For more information email, call, or write: 

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Youth Tour Coordinator 
P.O. Box 150, Bolivar, Missouri 65613
1-417-326-5244 or 1-800-262-0326.

Need help with your essay? Check out these Youth Tour resources. Also, be sure to check out National Rural Electric Cooperative Association's Youth Tour site.

Youth Tour Resources

To qualify for the Youth Tour you will need to write an essay.
Here are some web links that may be useful in your research.

The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association represents nearly 1,000 electric cooperatives nationwide and sponsors the Youth Tour program nationwide. Check out NRECA's Youth Tour site.

The Rural Utilites Service replaced the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Electrification Administration. 

Associated Electric Cooperative in Springfield, Missouri recounts its history.

The National Cooperative Business Association is a national trade association representing cooperatives.

The Electric Power Research Institute is a scientific and research organization funded in part by America's rural electric cooperatives.

CYCLE
(Cooperative Youth Conference and Leadership Experience)

The CYCLE program is a three day conference held in Jefferson City in late July. It brings in some of the brightest young leaders from across Missouri. The focus is to show students more about electric cooperatives, teach leadership skills and experience Missouri state government. The program includes nationally know speakers and a day at the state Capitol. There is also time for some fun things like an outdoor barbeque and a hypnosis. The group is also divided up into smaller teams that compete in various events like the “build a cooperative” game.

Delegates for the CYCLE program are selected from the Youth Tour Essays.  The two runner up entries from Youth Tour contest are awarded the CYCLE trip.  CYCLE is also an all expense paid experience for High School Juniors with the same eligibility requirements as Youth Tour. 

The winners of the 2011 CYCLE program are Lanley Scroggins, from Fair Play High School, and Megan Bales from Skyline High School.  

                                                Lanley Scroggins and Megan Bales