Justin, Rebecca and Delaney Morrison.
FROM LEFT
“These values and experiences are very important,” said Morrison. “I learned that if you have something important to say, then people should listen.” Not that her kids had much of a choice. Early on, she firmly encouraged Justin, and when he missed his chance to apply during his sophomore year, she made sure he applied his junior year. To his mother’s excitement, he was chosen to make the trip in 2017. Youth Tour was an easier sell with Delaney, who inherited her mother’s wanderlust and competitive spirit. Delaney was chosen to travel to PHOTO C OURTE SY RE BE C C A MORRISON D.C. this past spring, but the coronavirus pandemic postponed the trip. In an effort to redress the 2020 winners’ stolen experience, Three family members experience Washington, D.C., across two generations. BEC arranged to have them travel with the 2021 awardees next summer. STORY BY DAN OKO “It turned out to be one of the best experiences of R E B E C C A M O R R I S O N , A V E T E R A N E N G L I S H T E A C H E R and my life,” said Justin, who vividly remembers the Smithsonian mother of two, was raised in Bandera and inherited her uncle’s Institution and National Mall. “The Vietnam Memorial was small spread of land on the Medina River. incredible. To see how many people and how many different In 1985 Morrison was a student editor for her high school types of people made the ultimate sacrifice, it makes you newspaper and dreamed about making a difference in the appreciate everything we have.” world. As a teenager, she discovered the Government-inTo win the trip of a lifetime, the Morrisons each had to write Action Youth Tour, a nationwide program that brings students an essay. “The essay I wrote was about the Constitution,” to the U.S. capital to tour historic sites, experience cultural explained Delaney. “I wanted to write about something nobody diversity, meet U.S. congressional representatives, and learn else would choose, so I picked the Eighth Amendment, which about electric cooperatives and the energy industry. deals with cruel and unusual punishment and unfair fines. It’s “It was perfect for me,” says Morrison, a mother of two. “I something I thought about a long time—it’s not the same for loved to travel. I wanted to go and see the monuments and rich and poor people. If you don’t have a lot of money, a big learn just how our government works.” After three decades, fine can really make or break you.” Morrison had not forgotten her Youth Tour experience. Both Justin and his sister had a leg up in winning thanks to The experience made such an impression that when her their mother’s vocation as an English teacher. As a student, son Justin reached high school, she realized that between Rebecca said she wrote and rewrote her own essay on what her Bandera roots and her inherited property, he too could electrification meant to rural communities in Texas over many apply because BEC member youth are eligible to participate weeks. She encouraged her children to do the same. in the program, even if they don't live in the service territory. Delaney says her brother insists she discover D.C. for herself What’s more, her daughter Delaney, who is now a junior, also when the time comes. Meanwhile, Justin says he hopes his would have the chance to try for an all-expenses-paid trip to own children will have a chance to make their grandmother Washington, D.C. proud when he has a family of his own.
National Prospects
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