Local Students, Counselor Set Sights on Leadership Trip

While April showers bring May flowers, June will bring five deserving high school students a unique summer experience that will last many seasons.

Caroline Basch of East Paulding High School, Rhiannon Delgado of Paulding County High School, Grace Essien of New Manchester High School, Agi Jallow of Alexander High School and Francesca Noelette of North Paulding High School were selected to attend the 2014 Washington Youth Tour, a fully paid leadership trip sponsored by 38 of the electric membership corporations in Georgia, including GreyStone Power Corporation.

An 11th grade counselor for Hiram High School, Vanessa Bonaparte, and her husband Andy were selected as two of the 12 chaperones from across Georgia to accompany the state’s student-delegates on the trip.

As Georgia’s oldest leadership program for teens, the Washington Youth Tour is designed to teach students about U.S. history, the role of democracy, the importance of community and public service, and the need for civic leadership and service.

GreyStone’s five student winners will be among 109 Georgia high school students during the event, which is set for June 12-19 and begins with stops in Georgia, then moves to historic sites and other events in Washington, D.C.

While in D.C., the Georgia delegation will join nearly 1,600 Youth Tour participants from co-ops across the country, providing yet another significant benefit of the trip: the opportunity to meet and learn from a diverse group of peers representing nearly every state.

According to Ashley Kramer with GreyStone Power, the Youth Tour is an opportunity for exceptional students to personally interact with members of Georgia’s congressional delegation and visit landmarks in Georgia and the nation’s capital.

“With tours of museums, memorials and monuments, the trip provides a history lesson that can’t be learned from any textbook or classroom in Georgia,” said Kramer.

The trip includes historic attractions such as the Little White House in Warm Springs, and D.C. sites such as the Smithsonian Museums, Holocaust Museum, Mount Vernon, Supreme Court, Capitol, Washington Monument, and the FDR, Jefferson, World War II and Lincoln memorials. 

The Washington Youth Tour was inspired by former president Lyndon Johnson, who encouraged electric cooperatives to “send youngsters to the nation’s capital where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents.”

GreyStone Power serves more than 107,400 members in portions of eight counties, including Paulding, Douglas, Fulton, Cobb, Carroll, Bartow, Fayette and Coweta counties. Learn more at www.greystonepower.com.