Washington Youth Tour

An all-expenses-paid trip to our nation’s capital – June 15–20,2025

Once a year, York Elec­tric makes it pos­si­ble for two high school juniors to join dozens of oth­er South Car­oli­na stu­dents as part of the Wash­ing­ton Youth Tour — a six-day, all-expense paid edu­ca­tion­al expe­ri­ence in Wash­ing­ton, DC.

The 2025 Youth Tour appli­ca­tion dead­line is Feb­ru­ary 28, 2025.

Well over a thou­sand high school stu­dents, all spon­sored by elec­tric coop­er­a­tives from through­out the Unit­ed States, con­verge on our nation’s cap­i­tal to take part in this up-close look at his­to­ry — both made and in the mak­ing.

The itin­er­ary for the tour dur­ing a giv­en year varies depend­ing on the events and exhibits avail­able.

Typ­i­cal activ­i­ties include vis­its to the Lin­coln and Jef­fer­son Memo­ri­als, tours of the Capi­tol, the White House and Smith­son­ian, rides down the Potomac on char­tered boats and prime seat­ing for shows at Ford’s The­ater or oth­er per­form­ing arts venues.

South Car­oli­na stu­dents also meet with their rep­re­sen­ta­tives and sen­a­tors.

The tour, sched­uled for the third week in June of each year, is designed to get stu­dents involved in the polit­i­cal process by giv­ing them first­hand knowl­edge of our gov­ern­ment in oper­a­tion.

To com­pete for the schol­ar­ship, each Wash­ing­ton Youth Tour win­ner must sub­mit an essay. Com­pe­ti­tion is based on essays and par­tic­i­pa­tion dur­ing the trip. Trip chap­er­ones will judge the essays. S.A.T. scores, grade point aver­age, class stand­ing, and oth­er hon­ors will not be con­sid­ered. For more info, vis­it www.youthtour.coop.