Missouri students travel to D.C. for a week of monuments and memories
STORY AND PHOTOS by Paul Newton
Standing inside the U.S. Capitol, Joe Snyder found himself struck by more than marble columns and ornate ceilings. The Maryville teenager had always imagined Washington, D.C., would be incredibly interesting, and he was right. He expected the history, the politics and the government buildings to make an impression.
“The Capitol was absolutely stunning,” says Joe. “Just the architecture and thinking about the amount of power and money that goes through that building every day, where all the legislators work. It’s insane to think about.”
For Joe, the visit was the highlight of a week where he was one of 110 delegates on the Missouri Youth Tour to Washington, D.C. For more than six decades, Missouri’s electric cooperatives have sent the state’s most outstanding soon-to-be high school seniors to our nation’s capital on the trip of a lifetime. From June 14-20, Missouri’s delegates spent a week in Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area making lifelong memories and friends.
Youth Tour is a chance for Missouri’s electric cooperatives to send teens from their service areas to the capital to bring history to life. Before the trip, Chris Massman, Missouri Youth Tour coordinator, encouraged the delegates to make the most of their week in D.C.
“When we’re seeing these amazing monuments and museums, it’s important to know not only what they are, but why they are there,” he says. “Washington is full of history and there’ll be no shortage of things to do and learn.”
History in Person
For Missouri’s cooperatives, the Youth Tour is an investment not only in their local youth and future leaders, but also in their communities as a whole. “All of the delegates possess unique leadership skills they use at church, FFA or school that caught the attention of their local co-op,” says Chris. “After a week of sharing and learning new skills with other like-minded, well-rounded leaders from across the state, they’re well positioned to be the future leaders back in their rural Missouri hometowns.”
The delegates met as strangers at an orientation in Columbia on Sunday, June 14. They traveled to St. Louis the next morning for a flight to D.C. and hit the ground running, heading straight to the Washington Monument from Reagan National Airport.
Downtime was at a premium as the group’s itinerary was full from 6:30 a.m. wake-up calls to 11 p.m. room checks. Stops included the Marine Corps, Air Force, World War I and II, Vietnam Veterans, Korean War Veterans, Martin Luther King, Jr., Jefferson and Lincoln memorials.
They met with congressional staff and toured the U.S. Capitol and visited historic sites such as the museums of the Smithsonian Institution, Mount Vernon and attended a performance at the Kennedy Center. They observed the solemn tradition of the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
More Than Monuments
For Joe, the Capitol was the highlight, but the people surprised him almost as much as the places. He knew only two other delegates before the trip, but left the trip with newfound friends. “Now, I’m coming away from this trip with people I’ll talk to for quite some time,” he says.
Each year, one delegate from Missouri is selected as the representative for the national Youth Leadership Council. Aminah Harmon, sponsored by Laclede Electric Cooperative, was chosen as the 2026-27 Missouri representative and traveled back to Washington in July for leadership training. She will represent Missouri at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association PowerXchange in San Diego next February and address the 2027 Missouri Youth Tour delegates before their trip next June.
Aminah is part of a military family and lived in the D.C. area for two years previously. She was excited to go back, but unsure of what to expect.
“I thought it was going to be a strictly academic trip at first,” she says. “Pretty early in the trip, it was shown to me that it was more than that. It’s more about finding an appreciation for your country.”
Aminah will spend the next year meeting fellow leaders from across the country, but will always remember the Missouri leaders she met on Youth Tour. “The whole trip exceeded any expectations I had,” she says. “We’ve just been connecting and networking. There was never a dull moment, including the karaoke on the late-night rides home from the memorials.”
Trip of a Lifetime
The Youth Tour was inspired by then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson in 1957 when he asked rural electric leaders to “send youngsters to the national capital where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents.” The following year, electric cooperatives in Iowa sent the first group of young people on a weeklong tour of our nation’s capital. Missouri followed in 1964 with 22 Show-Me State electric cooperatives sending 58 students to Washington, D.C. The 2026 trip was the 61st time Missouri’s electric cooperatives have stepped up to send the state’s youth to the capital.
Joe, who was sponsored by United Electric Cooperative, says he thought Youth Tour sounded too good to be true when he first heard of it. And it somehow exceeded his already high expectations.
“I had never been to D.C. before. But I love traveling, I love history and I love politics and government,” he says. “You get the trifecta in D.C. I didn’t realize it was as beautiful a city as it is.”
Email Paul Newton at pnewton@ruralmissouri.coop.