Youth Tour 2025

A Trip to Remember

TOMORROW’S LEADERS: Delegates from Pennsylvania and New Jersey gather for a photo in front of the White House. The students also had the opportunity to visit one of Washington D.C.’s newest museums, The People’s House: A White House Experience.

Eighty students from Pennsylvania and New Jersey took a once-in-a-lifetime trip in June when they traveled from their electric cooperatives across the two states to Washington, D.C., for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Youth Tour.

While there, they toured monuments and memorials, visited museums and Capitol Hill, and networked with more than 1,600 other students from across the United States.

“Youth Tour gives students a chance to step outside their comfort zone and connect with other teens from across the nation,” says Steph Okuniewski, Youth Tour director for the Pennsylvania Rural Electric Association. “In the 19 years I have attended Youth Tour, I have seen students develop lifelong friendships, choose career paths and return to their communities with a better understanding of electric cooperatives and the important role they play in rural areas.”

Riley McCausland of REA Energy Cooperative, based in Indiana, Pa., shows off her collection of state pins.

From left, chaperone Sarah Parrish and students Emily Lewis and Noah Rakestraw, all representing Sullivan County Rural Electric Cooperative, visit the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial.

While visiting The People’s House: A White House Experience, Amanda Allabaugh of Claverack Rural Electric Cooperative (REC), front, finds a hidden compartment in the resolute desk. Other Claverack REC representatives, from left, are: Everett Leonard, Bella Clark, Maia Montross, chaperones Steve Allabaugh, the co-op’s president and CEO, and Megan Rought, and student Ed Eastman.

Nadia McLean of Central Electric Cooperative and Max Gochnour of New Enterprise Rural Electric Cooperative have a great time at Co-op Connections Night.

Brandon Hurley of Somerset Rural Electric Cooperative (REC), Pennsylvania’s 2024-2025 Youth Leadership Council (YLC) representative, poses with the 2025-2026 YLC representatives: Pennsylvania’s Kendall Woods, center, of Adams Electric Cooperative and New Jersey’s Cristina Hatzimihalis of Sussex REC.