Southern Rivers Energy is now accepting applications for the Washington Youth Tour, a nationally recognized leadership program that gives high school students a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to experience Washington, D.C. Sponsored nationally by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and statewide by Georgia Electric Membership Corporation (GEMC), the tour provides students with a unique, behind-the-scenes look at our nation’s government and history.

Since 1965, the Washington Youth Tour has sent more than 40,000 students nationwide—including over 1,650 from Georgia—to the nation’s capital. The program was launched at the request of President Lyndon B. Johnson, who challenged the nation’s electric cooperatives to send young people to Washington, D.C., so they could “see what the flag represents.”

Southern Rivers Energy will sponsor two local students for an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., June 12–19, 2026. The tour is completely free to participants and includes visits to historic landmarks, meetings with elected officials, and leadership development opportunities alongside students from across the country.

For more information, contact Kathryn Green at kathryn@srivers.net. The application deadline is February 2.

Eligibility requirements:

• Applicants must be high school students at least 16 years of age by June 1.
• The student must live or go to school in a county served by Southern Rivers Energy (Bibb, Coweta, Crawford, Lamar, Meriwether, Monroe, Pike, Spalding, and Upson counties).
• Parent, grandparent, or guardian of the applicant can neither be employed by nor serve as a director of Southern Rivers Energy. Interested children and grandchildren of SRE directors and employees are eligible to enter the statewide contest and should email kathryn@srivers.net for application details.

Application process:

• All competition materials can be found at southernriversenergy.com/washington-youth-tour
• After studying the provided materials, create a short video (2-4 minutes) covering information about the history of rural electrification, Southern Rivers Energy, and the U.S. government. The topic of your submission is: What did you learn from the study materials, and why you should represent Southern Rivers Energy on the Youth Tour?
• Students must submit a completed application and video to SRE by Feb. 2.
• Applicants will then be asked to attend an in-person interview on Thursday, February 12, at the SRE headquarters in Barnesville. Two winners will be chosen and notified on the day of the interviews.