Rural Missouri - August 2011 - (Page 10)

2011 Missouri Youth Tour In their own words, the delegates of this year’s “trip of a lifetime” give a day-by-day account of their visit to the nation’s capital sponsored by Missouri‘s electric cooperatives FRIDAY, JUNE 10 Anxious :) I can’t believe the trip starts today! Posted by Bethany Breeden at 2:17 p.m. SATURDAY, JUNE 11 Hear more from the delegates on this year’s Youth Tour at www.ruralmissouri.coop. Night of Touring After a two-hour drive, a long ﬂight and another hour of driving, we ﬁnally made it to our hotel. The Hyatt is super nice, and a bunch of other states are staying here, too. We all have been trading pins and getting to know each other very well. Tonight we went to three different memorials. My favorite was the Jefferson Memorial. It really showed all the thought he put into his writing. This city is beautiful and I am making a ton of new friends. People told me how fun this trip would be, but I didn’t fully understand. That’s all changed now and I’m ready for the rest of my awesome week in D.C. Posted by Leo Lutz at 9:11 p.m. Finally. In D.C.!!! On the ﬁrst night of the trip, the delegates and their families enjoyed a banquet at the Truman Hotel in Jefferson City. They learned what they would experience in the coming days and participated in icebreaking activities. From left, Jenna Durnell, sponsored by Sac Osage Electric; Hannah Beers, sponsored by Crawford Electric; and Cameron Brown, sponsored by Laclede Electric, used common household items to demonstrate what a cooperative does. I’m so excited to be here with all the other states’ winners. The ﬂight was a new experience for most of us, and after a long day of traveling, we are all pretty worn out. We saw the Jefferson, FDR and Iwo Jima memorials tonight. They are sooo cool! I just want to say thank you again to our co-op sponsors who sent us here on “the trip of a lifetime.” I also want to thank those who fought for our country and glad we have these memorials to look at here in D.C. honoring them. Well it’s bed time, 6 a.m. comes awfully early! Posted by Clarissa Rosenburg at 9:37 p.m. From left, Leo Lutz, Kaylee Herring, Alana Simpson and Kaylee Green pose for a picture on the steps of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. SUNDAY, JUNE 12 Day 3! We began our day at Arlington National Cemetery. It was literally breathtaking. It was hard to hold back the tears to see all the people who have given their lives for our freedom. The Smithsonian museums were pretty great, too. My little group visited nearly every museum. I saw Dorothy’s slippers! The dance tonight was probably my favorite, though. Kentucky, Texas, Indiana, Missouri and possibly more, were all on the same boat together! The dancing was great and the cruise was smooth and beautiful. Posted by Kathleen Hinkle at 9:53 p.m. MONDAY, JUNE 13 Youth Day, Mount Vernon and more We started the morning of Youth Day with all of the other states and more than 1,500 delegates in ONE room! We did the wave, and there was ﬁst pumping and a conga line. We listened to some fantastic motivational speakers, including the story of paralympian Mike Schlappi. We visited George Washington’s home and tomb at Mount Vernon and got to touch the same banister he did so many years ago. We then had dinner and shopping at the Pentagon City Mall. We ended the day with plenty of time to walk around and explore the Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam Memorial Wall and Korean Memorial during the evening. It was a fabulous day! Posted by Alana Simpson at 9:07 p.m. Katie Wells, sponsored by Crawford Electric, grimaces at the site of a cockroach at the National Museum of Natural History. TUESDAY, JUNE 14 It’s only 11 a.m... I have already had multiple breathtaking experiences at the Newseum. The 9/11 tribute and Berlin Wall were fantastic, as well as the newspaper archives from events throughout history. Next up, a visit to Ford’s Theatre, lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and a good ol’ Cardinals game. Posted by Bethany Breeden at 11:11 a.m. Colt Brown, sponsored by North Central Electric and Dakota Ross, sponsored by West Central Electric, look out from their left-ﬁeld seats at Nationals Park. Allison Laurence, sponsored by North Central Electric, traces the name of a family friend from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15 Peace and Blessings Last Friday, little did we know that all 83 of us would become one family. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. I remember walking into the banquet room that ﬁrst night and thinking that there is no way I was going to be able to meet and get to actually know all these kids, but I WAS WRONG! Literally, we are a family. These days have gone by so fast. We are getting ready to begin our ﬁnal day on Capitol Hill. This trip was truly a trip of a lifetime that will be impossible to forget. Posted by Jazmin Gac at 7:37 a.m. THURSDAY, JUNE 16 Flying Home We are currently on the plane to go home. It has been an amazing trip, truly a trip of a lifetime. The friends that I met and the memories of all the monuments and places — whew — we went to, will be truly unforgettable. We are already planning a reunion of all the Youth Tour delegates this fall! We are deﬁnitely a very happy family. I’ll miss you all! Posted by Lindsey Kolb at 1:37 p.m. For more information about Youth Tour, visit www.youthtour.coop. 10 WWW.RURALMISSOURI.COOP http://www.ruralmissouri.coop http://www.youthtour.coop http://WWW.RURALMISSOURI.COOP

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Rural Missouri - August 2011

Rural Missouri - August 2011
Comments
Columns
Stop and smell the barbecue
2011 Missouri Youth Tour
The fight on Bloody Hill
Missouri snapshots
Out of the Way Eats
Eight seconds to win
Hearth and Home
News Briefs
Touring history
Marketplace
Around Missouri
Neighbors
Just4Kids

Rural Missouri - August 2011