2008 SLECA Youth Tour Winners  Alyssa Dowouis  and Tyler Bunnell

2006 SLECA Youth Tour Winners Neal Bollinger (left) and Will Dunckelman

Washington, D.C. Youth Tour Contest

Every year SLECA sponsors two high school students on a one week all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C. Students become eligible for the trip by participating in a writing contest.

Eligibility Requirements

• High school sophomores and juniors are eligible.
   
• Students must reside on SLECA’s electric system
   
• Students must be available to attend a Youth Leadership Conference in Baton Rouge and the SLECA Annual Meeting both in April in addition to the Washington, D.C. Trip in June.

Contest Guidelines

• Applicants should write a letter to their congressman or other elected official on a topic they consider important to them.
   
• The letter should be in proper letter form and should not exceed 500 words (one to two pages).
   
• On a separate sheet attached to the letter, students must write his.her name, social security number, name of school, grade level, parents’ names, address and telephone number.

Entries should be mailed to Youth Tour Essay Contest, c/o SLECA, P. O. Box 4037, Houma, LA 70361 or delivered to SLECA’s main office, 2028 Coteau Road, Houma.

Students can also e-mail their entries to ERobertson@sleca.com.

All essays become the property of South Louisiana Electric Cooperative Association.

Entries must be received no later than March 1, 2009.

An outside judging committee will select two winners and one alternate. Letters are judged on knowledge of subject, originality, composition, neatness and grammar.

For more information contact SLECA at 876-6880 or 1-800-256-8826.