BUSINESS NEWS
Wheatland Electric Cooperative, Inc. (WEC) congratulates Joshua Fulton, junior at Scott Community High School, and Ally Howard, junior at Great Bend High School. These two outstanding students were selected to serve as the delegates representing WEC at the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour this summer and were recognized at WEC’s annual meeting in Great Bend, Kan. on April 24, 2024.
Eligible students completed an online application, including a short essay about a family, social, or school situation in which their leadership made the difference. After an extensive interview, they were selected as the two winners by the WEC Board of Trustees.
“Throughout my life, I heard the saying “lead by example”. After adopting this mantra and imprinting it on my brain, I started to gain skill as a leader,” wrote Fulton. Regarding his high school entrepreneurship class Fulton said, “What I learned from the classroom mentors, sweating bullets of nervousness and the feeling of success during the overall experience made me hungry to learn more about business and leadership.”
Howard, who currently serves as vice-president for her high school Future Farmers of America chapter, wrote, “Whether in our day-to-day meetings, tackling a hands-on task or leading and educating a younger generation, leadership, communication and collaboration within the chapter are very important…I hope to help the rest of my club members gain the confidence to do their best by leading by example and always stepping up to the occasion!”
The Electric Cooperative Youth Tour flies students to Washington, D.C., providing Fulton and Howard with the opportunity to meet their congressional representatives and senators on Capitol Hill, meet with nationally recognized speakers to talk about current topics important to rural communities, tour national historic landmarks and museums, and build meaningful connections with other youth leaders from across the country.
Youth Tour is a life-changing trip that brings more than a thousand high school juniors and seniors to Washington, D.C. from across America, courtesy of their local sponsoring electric cooperative, their state association, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA). Over the years, these delegates have met with their elected officials and explored Capitol Hill. They have learned about the impact electric cooperatives have on their communities as well as how programs like NRECA International are impacting lives around the world.
Applications for the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour in Washington, D.C. and Cooperative Youth Leadership Camp in Steamboat Springs, Colo. are accepted each year beginning in November. High school juniors who reside in WEC’s service territory that are a legal dependent of an active member receiving service from WEC are eligible to apply. See our website for more information at weci.net/youth-tour-program.