Community

Washington Youth Tour

Do you like to draw or write or make videos or take photographs? Are you a high school student who lives on Poudre Valley REA's system? If you answered "yes" to all of these questions, read on.

In mid-June 2008, more than 1,500 high school students will be in Washington, D.C., for the Rural Electric Youth Tour. A typical tour day starts at 7:00 a.m. and is not complete until 11:00 p.m. The Washington Monument, Washington Cathedral, Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials are just a few of the attractions. There is a Potomac cruise and a chance to meet Congressional leaders. In the evenings a dance and a play are planned for tour participants.

The lucky students will be selected and sponsored by their local rural electric cooperatives. Poudre Valley REA will pay all the expenses for one student. The Youth Tour is coordinated by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).

Who Is Eligible? High school juniors at least 16-17 years of age--and whose parents or guardians are Poudre Valley REA members--are eligible to enter the contest.

How Do Students Enter? Students who wish to enter the contest can do so by writing an essay, producing a 10-15 minute video, creating a free-hand drawing or computer-generated graphic, or taking and submitting a photograph.

Essays should be typed, double-spaced, and approximately 500 words long (give or take a short paragraph one way or the other). Students are encouraged to illustrate their essays with free-hand drawings or computer graphics.

This year, essays or illustrations, or videos should be based on ONE of the following topics:

Why is it not safe to stand a long piece of irrigation pipe up under a power line? Explain what would happen to the person holding it if the pipe came in contact with the line?
Explain or draw how the generating plant, the transmission lines, and the distribution lines bring electricity to your house.
Write a paragraph to answer each of the following questions about PVREA:
1. What is the main reason Poudre Valley REA has an annual meeting?
2. Explain why PVREA consumers get some money back after they have been on PVREA’s service for a while.
Does PVREA offer wind power to its consumers? Does it cost extra?
Why did electrical cooperatives, like Poudre Valley REA, get started? Why couldn’t people buy their electricity from the big companies?

Drawing/Graphic and Photograph entries should be done with Poudre Valley REA's annual report in mind. We may use the winning entry for the cover of our annual report.

The space for the report's cover is 8.5" x 3.5". Entries can be larger, but need to be in about the same proportion as the report cover (for example, 17" x 7" or 34" x 14").
Drawings, designs or photographs may be placed on the report vertically or horizontally.
In the past, covers have been composed of scenery (plowed fields, farm houses and buildings, trees), employees working, and computer-generated bolts of lightning, to name a few. We'd like something eye-catching that would make YOU want to pick up the report and read it.

How Will the Winner Be Selected? Art and photograph entries will be judged on subject matter, creativity, originality, and use of the 8.5" x 3.5" space. Essays and videos will be judged for topic knowledge, clarity and correctness of presentation, documentation of sources, grammar and spelling (in essays). Finalists will be interviewed by the Tour Committee. From these students the winner and an alternate will be chosen.

Second place is also worth the effort! An additional three of the students who enter the contest will be chosen to represent Poudre Valley REA at Colorado's energy camp in Steamboat Springs in July.

Application

ALL ENTRIES must be postmarked or hand-delivered no later than November 19, 2007. Winners will be notified by the end of November.

Poudre Valley REA • PO Box 272550, 7649 REA Parkway, Fort Collins, CO 80527-2550 - Map
Phone: 970.226.1234 • FAX: 970.226.2123 • Email: pvrea@pvrea.com