BEC Member Youth Win Trip to Washington, D.C.

FOUR AREA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS WILL GET THE CHANCE TO SEE DEMOCRACY IN action this June at the 2019 National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Government-in-Action Youth Tour in Washington, D.C. The all-expense paid trip is sponsored by Bandera Electric Cooperative.

Trace Decker, Bandera High School sophomore; Michael Downum, Leakey ISD sophomore; Kayley Phillippe, Utopia ISD sophomore; and Mandalyn Robertson, O’Connor High School junior, were chosen based on their essays describing the two cooperative principles with the most importance to them.

The students will join youth from other Texas electric cooperatives as well as other co-ops from across the country. While in Washington, students will participate in guided tours of historic sites, museums and congressional offices, where they will meet their members of Congress. The students also fulfill the ambition of then-U.S. Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, who inspired the Youth Tour with his desire expressed in 1957 for young people to “actually see what the flag stands for and represents.”

Every year, BEC provides this opportunity to students whose parents or legal guardians are members of BEC or receive BEC service at their residence. For more information, visit BanderaElectric.com/YouthTour.

Trace Decker | Bandera High School

Michael Downum | Leakey ISD

Kayley Phillippe | Utopia ISD

Mandalyn Robertson | O'Connor High School