McAreavey and Lipsey will represent KEC in Washington, D.C.

Kay Electric Cooperative’s Annual Youth Tour Banquet wrapped up on the evening of March 22.  Area juniors wrote essays about what they see as the biggest challenges that the electric utilities will face in the future and why.  School administrators and faculty, parents, KEC employees and directors listened and learned as the eight finalists presented their essays in speech form.

Trenton McAreavey, Tonkawa High School, and Samantha Lipsey, Garber High School, won top honors for their presentations and earned an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. as participants in the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) Youth Tour.  Brett Severin, Garber High School, and Makenna Sterling, Medford High School, won the all-expense paid trip to the Cooperative Youth Leadership Conference in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. 

Winners of cash prizes included Caitlynn Wickham and Emma Dice, Blackwell High School, and Mikey Kane and Aaron Smith, Medford High School. 

The essay contest is open to high school juniors within the KEC service territory.  Third-party judges evaluated the essays on content, originality, grammar, and neatness before choosing the eight finalists.  KEC honored the top writers at the Youth Tour banquet where finalists presented their essays in speech form and answered three questions from the judges.  Judges included Erin Liberton, Eastman National Bank, Traci Thorpe, Pioneer Tech, and Jared Grell, BancFirst.

KEC began sending local high school juniors to Washington D.C. in 1963.

As top winners, McAreavey and Lipsey will also have the opportunity to compete at the state level for the coveted Oklahoma Representative on the NRECA Youth Consulting Board.

While in Colorado, Severin and Sterling will have the chance to be selected as an Oklahoma Ambassador for the multi-state camp.

Pictured standing from left to right:  Tim Rodriguez, CEO, Mikey Kane-Medford, Aaron Smith- Medford, Brett Severin-Garber, Trenton McAreavey-Tonkawa, and Max Hohmann, President of the Board of Trustee’s.  Seated from left to right: Caitlynn Wickham-Blackwell, Emma Dice- Blackwell, Makenna Sterling-Medford and Samantha Lipsey-Garber.