In January, Intercounty Electric Cooperative began contacting local high schools to share information about an opportunity for juniors to participate in the co-op’s annual Youth Tour Essay Contest.
The competition began with students at each school writing an essay about how they’d like to see their co-op be more involved in their local communities
Coordinators at each school scored and submitted their top three essays to the cooperative. A panel of judges at Intercounty scored those top three essays and from those scores, determined a top student from each school.
Last year was the first year the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) had to cancel the Youth Tour trip to Washington, D.C., and consequently the C.Y.C.L.E. Conference in Jefferson City. Unfortunately, lingering pandemic concerns have caused the trips to be canceled again this year. Intercounty Electric decided to recognize the effort of these students with a scholarship in lieu of the trips.
The first place student at each school will be awarded a $2,000 scholarship and the runners up from each school will receive a $500 scholarship. While it’s not the trip we’d like to offer, we hope it encourages these students to continue to work hard. This pandemic may have canceled the trips, but it certainly has not canceled our ability to invest in these students’ futures.
Each of these juniors deserve to be congratulated on their hard work and exemplary effort in the contest. We are proud of their accomplishments as tomorrow’s leaders, and hope that they too, are proud of their hard work. If you recognize any of these students, please join us in congratulating them.
The first place $2,000 scholarship winners are as follows: Saint James, Allana Chitwood; Rolla, Mallory Moats; Salem, Sierra Rusco; Licking, Winter Murray; Summersville, Mikayla Bond; Houston, Devon Sawyer; Plato, Cecilia Groves; Cabool, Braxton Davis; and Mountain Grove, Isaiah Schott.
The $500 scholarship winners are: Saint James, Kira Gordon and Elysia Frayer; Rolla, Simon Yoakum and Isabella Staley; Salem, Andrea Bray and Hailey Baldwin; Licking, Cadrian Hutsell and Krysta Joyner; Summersville, Trevor Mahan and Breauna Pitts; Houston, Sarah Purcell and Wiley Sisco; Plato, Autumn Yourchisin and Jayden Echols; and from Mountain Grove, Andrew Norris and Claire Nelson.
