Local students find courage and connection on Youth Tour
By Josh P. Crotzer
When Addyson Posey first heard about Washington Youth Tour from her grandmother, excitement wasn’t her initial reaction.
“I was honestly really nervous and didn’t want to do it,” admits Posey, a rising junior at Boiling Springs High School. “But once I got here, I quickly realized how fun it was. I’ve made a lot of friends and had a really good time.”
Posey and Hunter Green, a rising senior at Blacksburg High School, were sponsored by Broad River Electric Cooperative on the five-day, all-expenses-paid trip to the nation’s capital and surrounding landmarks. They joined 69 other high school students representing South Carolina’s electric cooperatives on visits to historic and educational sites such as George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Fort McHenry in Baltimore and the Smithsonian museums in Washington.
The students also viewed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery, visited the 9/11 Memorial at the Pentagon and found names of fallen soldiers from their area on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
“My favorite part was Arlington National Cemetery because of how sentimental it is to me, having veterans in my family,” Green says. “It gave me even greater appreciation for what they’ve done for our country.”
For Posey, visiting the Holocaust Memorial Museum was impactful.
“I didn’t think it would affect me as much because we learn about it in school,” Posey says. “Seeing the videos and the exhibits was really shocking and sad, but it broadened my perspective and helped me understand it more.” During their visit to Capitol Hill, Addyson Posey and Hunter Green were welcomed into U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman’s office and heard from U.S. Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott on the Capitol steps.
The trip was also an opportunity for the students to interact with peers from other parts of South Carolina and the 43 other state electric co-op delegations that converged on Washington that week. The Youth Tourists traded state pins with one another—South Carolina’s pins depicting the notorious Lizard Man were popular—and came together for Youth Day, where they heard from national cooperative leaders and inspirational speakers.
Green says he intends to encourage younger classmates to apply for next year’s trip.
“It’s an opportunity of a lifetime,” he says. “I loved it, and I appreciate Broad River Electric for sending me.”