Each year Central hosts a contest for high school juniors living within Central’s service area to attend Youth Tour in Washington, D.C.

This year Annelise Ochsner from Stillwater and Hadleigh Stierwalt from Pawnee were selected as winners and visited Washington, D.C. in June with other winners from cooperatives across Oklahoma. 

Central’s strategic account representative, Kelly Naas, joined the week-long trip as a chaperone.

“It was an incredible experience, and I loved seeing Oklahoma represented at our Capitol,” Naas said. “My favorite part of the trip was watching our youth take such an interest in our national political environment and history.” 

Ochsner, Stierwalt and Naas met U.S. Senators, visited Baltimore, national monuments, historical sights, Smithsonian museums and cruised the Potomac River on a riverboat dinner cruise. 

The participants competed against other high school juniors in an essay contest. The top five finalists were interviewed with Ochsner and Stierwalt winning the week-long, all-expense-paid trip, and the three runner-up applicants receiving $1,000 scholarships. 

The Youth Tour competition for 2025 will open to current high school juniors in November. Those interested in applying or who want to learn more can do so by clicking here.