Georgia Magazine - January 2015 - 26D

★

From delegate to co-op employee

Participating in the Washington Youth Tour (WYT)
often opens delegates' eyes to potential career paths.
Sometimes, they ﬁnd a job with one of Georgia's electric
cooperatives, which sponsor the tour. Three former WYT
delegates who followed that path answer this question:

What Washington Youth Tour lessons have
stayed with you and now help you in your
work with an electric cooperative?

Kelly McEwen

★
★

Participated: 2001, representing Carroll EMC (CEMC), Carrollton
Current job: Administrative assistant in Engineering and Operations,
CEMC; also worked at CEMC while attending college

All the delegates became friends so easily, and we
were made to feel like we were part of a family. That is
also what I recall from my past experience working at
Carroll EMC during college and it is true today. Cooperative employees-within their own cooperative or with
another from across the state-share a special camaraderie and relationship.
Cooperative employees strive to make their communities the best places to live and work and feel it is
our duty to be responsible citizens and give back to
our communities. Our world would be a better place if
everyone held fast to these values.

About the 2014 delegates

★

of the 65 who submitted survey responses ...

43 are members of the National Honor Society

and/or Beta Club
31 had never ﬂown in a plane before the WYT
19 are members of 4-H
17 had a family member participate in a previous
WYT
14 are members of FFA
The Holocaust Memorial Museum was the tour stop
or activity that left the most lasting impression.
26D

★

Charlie Durden

★

Participated: 2001, representing Georgia EMC, Tucker, and Washington
EMC, Sandersville
Current job: Member services representative, Sawnee EMC, Cumming

Before I participated in the WYT, at the age of 17,
my life revolved around school, church and sports. By
the time I started my senior year of high school after
returning from the trip, the WYT had given me a more
guided focus on the things I wanted to do with my life.
After the events of Sept. 11 (we were the last tour group
before 9/11), I felt a stronger sense of responsibility and
the need to be a good steward to my community, just
as the pioneers of the electric membership cooperatives
were to the communities they served at the dawn of the
Rural Electriﬁcation Administration.
I now get the great opportunity to meet the tour delegates we send to Washington, D.C., each year. I enjoy
learning of the experiences each had on the trip.

★

Leah Tritt Johnson

Participated: 2007, representing Blue Ridge
Mountain EMC, Young Harris
Current job: Member services representative,
Amicalola EMC, Dahlonega ofﬁce

The Youth Tour helps the younger generation with public speaking,
responsibility and time-management
skills, and gives small-town students the chance to travel
somewhere they may never get to see or go otherwise.
I was extremely shy and attended the smallest school
in the state, Woody Gap School in Suches. For me, it was
a lot of ﬁrsts: ﬁrst time ﬂying, ﬁrst time traveling farther
than a surrounding state and the ﬁrst time being alone on
a trip without my family. But the Youth Tour gives you
a chance to create a new kind of family ... a one-of-akind connection with youth across the state and even the
country. I created a special bond with the Georgia group
and love being able to see where they are now.
As a member of Amicalola EMC's Youth Tour Selection Committee, I interview and evaluate applicants. I
hope that one day my husband, John, and I can go back
to Washington, D.C., as chaperones.

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Georgia Magazine - January 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - January 2015