Youth Tour

The plans are underway for the NRECA 2009 Rural Electric Youth Tour to Washington, D.C. The dates for the tour are June 12th-18th, 2010.

The topic for this year is:  Identify and describe the key qualities of leadership that are important to young adults, and explain where today's young leader should be focused.

 The student must be a junior or senior in high school in the fall of 2010. 

• The student and/or parent or guardian must be served by Sun River Electric.
• Essay must include a cover page with the student’s name, address, telephone number and the name of the rural electric cooperative.
• Submit the essay to Sun River Electric by Friday, November 30, 2009.

If you have any questions please feel free to call Ross at SREC.  467-2526 or 1-800-452-7516.

FAIRFIELD STUDENT WINS THE 2009 WASHINGTON YOUTH TOUR ESSAY CONTEST

Sydnie Manuel-McInerney, a sophomore at Fairfield High School, is the winner of the 2009 Washington Youth Tour Essay Contest.  Sydnie is involved in Basketball, Volleyball, Track, Student Council, Pep Club and Math Club.  Sydnie is an honor roll student and is the daughter of Kelly and Mark McInerney of Fairfield.

Sydnie’s Essay:

Global warming is a pressing issue that affects us every day. We are being pressured from environmentalists to "go green". This is not always easy when cooperatives are supplying hundreds of people with energy and must keep the customers' interests in mind. However, the issue of finding affordable eco-friendly sources of energy must be addressed before global warming gets the best of us. Electric cooperatives and their members can play a role in the process by influencing what decisions are made in Washington D.C.

The first step in making a change is informing the public. The "Rural Montana" magazine is a great way for electric cooperatives to let their members know what they are doing to prevent global warming. Informing cooperative members lets the members know the cooperative is serious about finding alternate sources of energy. Another example is this essay contest which opens the eyes of seventeen-year-olds to issues that will affect us when we become adults. Global warming is not an issue that will be solved any time soon. Young people must get involved because it will be my generation making some of the major decisions about global warming. Still another way to create change is by setting an example. All it takes is one family to set up a wind turbine to cause local interest in green energy. In the same respect, one cooperative can start a grassroots movement that influences the entire nation. One person alone cannot fix this problem, but cooperatives made up of informed members have a great impact in Washington D.C. If members of an electric cooperative want a change in how their energy is supplied, they must express those opinions to the cooperative in hopes of seeing change. Then, as a group, we can work for change in Congress.

The only way anything will get done in Washington D.C. is if we come with a plan. So many groups talk about how things need to change, but they don’t back it up with a realistic strategy. Electric cooperatives have the knowledge and experience to formulate a plan for our country and its energy crisis. Electric cooperatives and their members must decide where they want our energy future to go and create a plan that puts us there. If law makers had guidelines of what the people actually want, it would be easier to make the laws. The solution maybe a mixture of many different proposed plans, but it would be a mixture of ideas from all around the country.

In order for Congress to do something about climate change, several things must happen. There must be some form of education for citizens and this must include education of youth. Members of electric cooperatives must express their ideas and feelings, and in turn, the cooperatives have to use their resources and knowledge to develop energy plans that serve the consumers without adding significantly to global warming. The problem will not be solved overnight, but I believe that cooperatives like mine will find a way to influence Congress and begin solving the problem of global warming.