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SWRE Youth Tour Contest
Open to Texoma 11th Grade Students

Southwest Rural Electric Cooperative will provide two area high school juniors with the trip of a lifetime this summer. Top prize in SWRE’s annual youth tour contest for one Oklahoma student and one Texas student will be an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. for a close-up look at our nation’s government in action.

All other contest finalists will receive a cash prize of $100.

The contest is open to all 11^th grade students who attend a high school in the SWRE service area. Eligibility is not limited only to students whose families purchase electricity from SWRE. Any student may enter.

In Texas, SWRE area schools include Chillicothe, Crowell, Electra, Harrold, Northside, and Vernon.

Oklahoma schools in the SWRE area are Altus, Blair, Davidson, Frederick, Navajo, Snyder, and Tipton.

To enter the contest, 11^th grade students must write a 500-750 word essay on a specified topic that relates to the importance of electricity in rural America. Essays must be received at the SWRE office in Tipton, Oklahoma, by Wednesday, February 27, 2008.

Based on the essays, eight students will be invited to SWRE’s Tipton headquarters in late March to meet with contest judges and present the information from their essays. At that time winners of the Washington, D.C. trips will be named and cash prizes will be awarded to the finalists.

The winning Texas student and Oklahoma student will travel to Washington, D.C. in mid-June with state delegations of youth tour winners. In the nation’s capital they will tour the U.S. Capitol, meet with elected officials, and visit important monuments and locations, including the White House and Mount Vernon.

Complete information resource packets for entering the contest have been provided to 11^th grade English teachers in schools throughout the SWRE service area.

The contest packets may also be obtained by calling Southwest Rural Electric at 1-800-256-7973. In addition, the entry material may be downloaded from the SWRE web site: www.swre.com.

“Service to the youth of our area has been a Southwest Rural Electric tradition since the cooperative was established in 1937,” said Mike Hagy, SWRE CEO. “For more than 40 years our cooperative has sponsored the annual youth tour contest and sent two students each year to our nation’s capital. For many of those young people, the trip has been incredibly positive, life-changing experience. I encourage all 11^th grade students in area schools to participate in the 2007 contest. Their reward may be great.”

March 30, 2007

2007 SWRE Youth Tour Winners Named

Washington, D.C. will be the destination this summer for two Texoma students who have been named as winners in Southwest Rural Electric Association’s annual Youth Tour Contest.

Nick Lehman, a junior at Vernon High School, will represent SWRE’s service area in Texas.

Jade Terbush, a junior at Navajo High School northeast of Altus, was chosen to represent SWRE’s Oklahoma service area.

Lehman is the son of Mark and Deana Lehman of Vernon and a student of Vernon High English instructor Janna Monday.

Terbush is the son of Lonnie and Stacie Terbush of rural Blair and a student of English instructor Cindy Cross at Navajo High School.

The two contest winners will travel to Washington, D.C. in June with other students from electric co-ops in their respective states. The Youth Tour groups will visit the U.S. Capitol, the White House, Washington, D.C.’s many memorials and museums, and Arlington National Cemetery. They will also have the opportunity to visit with numerous elected officials.

In addition to Lehman and Terbush, other finalists in the SWRE Youth Tour competition were Kelsey Brightbill, Harrold, TX; Jurie duToit, Frederick, OK; Autumn Roberts, Blair, OK; Stevie Rodriguez, Chillicothe, TX; Brittany Sammons, Tipton, OK; and Corey Samson, Northside High School north of Vernon, TX. Each finalist received a $100 cash prize.

The SWRE Youth Tour Contest began in 1964. It is open each year to all 11th grade students who live or attend school in the SWRE service area. Participating students do not have to be from SWRE member families.

To enter, students are required to write a 500-750-word essay on a specific topic that relates to SWRE services. Essays are evaluated to determine eight finalists -- four from Oklahoma schools and four from Texas schools.

Each year’s finalists are invited to an event at SWRE headquarters where they are asked to present oral interpretations of their essays and answer questions about SWRE services posed by a panel of three judges.

This year’s Youth Tour Contest event was held in Tipton, Oklahoma, on March 27.
Event judges were Sondra Boykin, communications coordinator at Western Farmers Electric Co-op; Lainial Gilbert, longtime educator and retired Oklahoma State Department of Education official; and Patty Neuwirth, Lawton businesswoman, civic and youth volunteer.

“Southwest Rural Electric is a strong supporter of youth and school programs throughout out 11-county service area,” said Mike Hagy, SWRE CEO. “We received many excellent essays. The eight contest finalists represented their schools and home communities very well. Texhoma has great young people, and we at SWRE are incredibly proud of them and their accomplishments.”

Southwest Rural Electric Association is a cooperative that provides electric service in a 6,000 square mile area of North Texas and Southwest Oklahoma. The co-op was incorporated in 1937 and maintains its headquarters in Tipton, Oklahoma.

Click on photo for larger image

Finalists in SWRE’s 2007 Youth Tour Contest were (l to r) Jurie duToit, Frederick High School; Brittany Sammons, Tipton High School; Autumn Roberts, Blair High School; Jade Terbush (Oklahoma winner), Navajo High School; Nick Lehman (Texas winner), Vernon High School; Kelsey Brightbill, Harrold High School; Corey Samson, Northside High School; Stevie Rodriguez, Chillicothe High School.

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