Well over a thousand high school students, all sponsored by electric cooperatives from throughout the United States, converge on our nation's capital to take part in this up-close look at history -- both made and in-the-making.

Stephanie Jackson, Member Services director for The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, serves as one of the tour guides for the Tour. According to Jackson, the itinerary is drawn from "whatever's hot in Washington."

This year, tour participants visited the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials, toured the Capitol, the White House and Smithsonian, rode down the Potomac on a chartered boat and attended a performance at Ford's Theater.

South Carolina students also met with their representatives and with Senators Strom Thurmond and Fritz Hollings.

Jackson speaks highly of the character and quality of the students who participate in the program each year. Students are chosen through an interview process that tests their knowledge of the history and function of electric cooperatives.

"We always visit the Franklin Delano Roosevelt memorial because he's the president who started the REA (Rural Electrification Administration)," Jackson says. Many co-op members will remember that the REA was the depression-era federal program that spawned hundreds of cooperatives across the country.

The Tour, scheduled for the third week in June of each year, is designed to get students involved in the political process by giving them firsthand knowledge of our government in operation.