The Washington Youth Tour is hosted and sponsored by Southwest Tennessee Electric Membership Cooperation each year. Chester County High School’s Zoren Simmons was chosen as a winner (among eight, including junior students from Munford and Brighton High School) in the 2024 Washington Youth Tour Creative Writing & Scholarship Competition. Simmons received an all-expenses paid trip traveling to Washington, D.C. during the month of June.
The Washington Youth Tour was inspired by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1957 when he encouraged electric cooperatives to send young people to the nation’s capital. Since then, more than 6,000 young Tennesseans have participated in the Washington Youth Tour as delegates.
On June 14, eight students left Tennessee with two chaperones and Buster to Bulldog to join the other Junior students from across the state on the annual Youth Tour to the Nation’s Capital.
The students toured many different mansions and monuments. They enjoyed nights on a riverboat ride on the Potomac River and National Harbor. Their visit included Ford’s Theatre, Arlington Cemetery, watching the Sunset Parade at Iwo Jima and touring the Nation’s Capital building. The trip came to an end on June 21.
Southwest Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation is your member-owned electric cooperative. STEMC prides themselves on providing affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy to more than 51,000 members in parts of 11 counties. The Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association provides leadership, advocacy and support for Tennessee’s 23 electric cooperatives (according to their online site: stemc.com). For more information on the Washington Youth Tour for 2025’s Junior students, visit online at stemc.com/washington-youth-tour.
