The Washington D.C. National Rural Electric Youth Tour, sponsored by local electric cooperatives, the Alabama Rural Electric Association and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, is part of a grassroots program to educate high school juniors on the electric cooperative program and the cooperative ideas for which it stands.  In June, approximately 47 students from Alabama traveled to Washington D.C., joining more than 1,500 students from across the nation.  The youth tour experience is filled with fun activities, but its overall purpose is to increase students understanding of the value of rural electrification, help them become more familiar with the historical and political environment of our nation’s capital through visits to monuments, government buildings and cooperative organizations…and visit elected officials to increase the students’ knowledge of how the federal government works.