January 2024
Inland Power is my cooperative!
LIGH
August 2024
READING
Inland students take on D.C.
F
rom monuments and museums to Arlington National Cemetery and cultural visits, more than 1,800 high school juniors from around the nation descended on Washington D.C., for the 2024 National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s (NRECA) Youth Tour.
Zach Emtmen of Spokane Valley and Katie Nelson from Deer Park represented Inland Power as part of the Washington delegation. They were accompanied by two students from Benton Rural Electric Association. “I really liked meeting all the kids from different states along with listening to the people who worked with NRECA on the hill,” Nelson said. “Seeing all the sights was also really cool. I thank everyone who helped organize the trip for us to go on, and a huge thank you to Inland Power for sponsoring us.”
Students on the tour learned about electric cooperatives, American history and U.S. government. They attended educational seminars and met with legislative personnel. Their schedule was action packed as they saw historical sites in and around Washington such as Arlington National Cemetery, the monuments, the U.S. Capitol, multiple Smithsonian museums, other museums, a Washington Nationals game and countless other places.
PowerXchange, which is NRECA’s annual meeting.
While on the tour, Emtmen was selected to serve as Washington’s representative on the Youth Leadership Council (YLC). These leaders meet virtually throughout 2024 and participate in additional leadership training, co-op forums and community activities like voter registration drives. The YLC students will also represent their states at the 2025
Information and applications for next year’s Youth Tour will be sent to schools within Inland Power’s service territory at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year. To learn more, you can check out the Youth Tour web site at youthtour.org youthtour.org.
“I think that sending kids to this type of program is important is because it allows kids like me to experience something I never thought I could,” Emtmen said. “As the YLC candidate, I think this is a great program because it allows me to grow more not only in my ways of communicating with others, but to learn the importance of my community and why these types of things are valuable.”
Our mision is our members!