Youth Trips

Youth Tour

Are you a junior or senior in high school? How would you like to take an all expense paid trip to our nation's capital?

Each and every year Oahe Electric sponsors a student to the National Rural Electric's Youth to Washington D.C. Tour. During the month of June a group of lucky South Dakota youths and their chaperones join hundreds of other kids from across the nation for the trip of a lifetime.

The students enter an essay contest in an effort to win the free trip. The essay topic is chosen for you and the deadline for the essay is usually from December to February. As an Oahe Electric entry, you would be required to submit your essay to us. We then would choose a winner from our cooperative's entries.

The trip would begin with a flight to Washington D.C. You would make new friends on this part of the trip. Once arriving at your destination you would find approximately 1,500 other students from across the nation all staying at the same hotel. Yes, you will have plenty of time to make even more friends.

While in D.C. you will arise very early every morning to prepare for the days events. You will visit the Vietnam Memorial, the Vietnam Women's Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the Holocaust Museum, attend a theater performance, visit the Pentagon City Mall, take part in a Youth Day Town Hall meeting, tour the National Cathedral, tour the Smithsonian Museums, stop by the Hard Rock Cafe, enjoy a Moonlight Cruise and Dance on the Potomac River, visit your state's congressional representatives, tour the Capitol, visit the Marine Corps Iwo Jima Memorial, Watch the Marine Corps Silent Drill and Parade team, visit the Lincoln Memorial and the Roosevelt Memorial, view the White House, tour Arlington National Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, watch the Changing of the Guard, visit the Kennedy grave sites, visit the Smithsonian National Zoo, visit the International Spy Museum, and finally go to the Washington Monument. After all this you board your plane and fly home. Now, how is that for a free trip?

For more information visit the Youth Tour website

Youth Excursion

Oahe Electric Cooperative helps area students take the drag out of the summer break with the Youth Excursion - a supervised three-day retreat for high school students.

Teens from all over South Dakota join together in the summer for the Youth Excursion to North Dakota. The youths ride in a deluxe bus, stay in a nice hotel, eat healthy meals, enjoy social activities and learn about the huge power generation facilities that provide their power. Best of all, your local electric cooperative will pick up the tab. All you need is spending money!

Students learn what's behind the switch - how coal mines provide the fuel, how clean burning, cooperatively owned power plants use it to generate electricity and how that electricity finally reaches the homes and businesses of co-op members.

The tour also includes a visit to the Great Plains Synfuels Plant, a unique operation that uses coal to create synthetic natural gas and other useful goods like chemicals and fertilizer.

However, this tour is designed and geared for students. In addition to the educational aspects, plenty of time is scheduled for fun. Social activities include swimming at the hotel pool, a boat cruise, shopping excursion to area stores and a teen dance where students meet and mingle with new friends - students from other SD electric co-ops.

Like the Youth Tour described above, the students enter an essay contest in an effort to win this free trip. The essay topic is chosen for you and the deadline for the essay is usually from December to February. As an Oahe Electric entry, you would be required to submit your essay to us. We then would choose a winner from our cooperative's entries.

Oahe Electric Cooperative, Inc.

Youth Trips

Youth Tour

Youth Excursion