Lake Country Power will sponsor Tegan Fordahl of Cotton, Minn., to attend what has been called a “trip of a lifetime” to Washington, D.C., on the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour. She will travel in June with nearly 40 Minnesota students where she’ll join 1,500 high school students from across the country. Fordahl will be a junior this fall at South Ridge High School. 

Fordahl aspires to be a government lawyer. “Ever since I was little, I’ve loved history,” she said in her application. “It has fascinated me for years and it still does. That’s one of the reasons I have decided to pursue law. Not only will I get to help people, but I will get to do so within historical context.”

Each summer, the Minnesota Rural Electric Association (MREA) organizes and leads Minnesota’s student delegation to Washington, D.C., with local electric cooperatives like Lake Country Power sponsoring the students on tour.

Students will spend one full day on Capitol Hill, meet with legislators, tour the Capitol, and visit the Library of Congress. They’ll take a class about electric cooperatives, taught by the National Rural Electric Association. Students will also learn about American history as they tour the Potomac Park monuments, Arlington Cemetery, Iwo Jima Memorial, Mount Vernon, Old Town Alexandria, Holocaust Museum, Smithsonian Institutions, Washington Monument, World War II Memorial, Air Force Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial, National Archives, and the National Mall.

“The Electric Cooperative Youth Tour is a great way to jumpstart your national network at a young age and make valuable connections that will last a lifetime,” said Tami Zaun, public relations coordinator and 2015 youth tour chaperone. “This is an opportunity of a lifetime.”

Since 1958, the nation’s electric cooperatives have sponsored more than 58,000 high school students on the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour – a joint effort between the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, statewide electric cooperative associations like MREA and local electric cooperatives.

For more information, visit https://www.electric.coop/our-organization/youth-programs, www.mrea.org/programs-1/ and www.lakecountrypower.coop/youth-tour.