Covington Electric Cooperative annually sponsors students from each participating high school within its service area to attend the Montgomery Youth Tour.

Those students are selected through an essay competition held in the fall.

The CEC Youth Tour participants joined more than 125 students from across the state on March 3-5 for a trip to Montgomery that included tours of the Alabama State Capitol, Alabama State House, Alabama Supreme Court, Rosa Parks Museum, and much more.

The Montgomery Youth Tour participants will soon compete for a week-long all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C. The Washington interview competition will take place at the CEC main office in Sanford on April 2, 2009. A three-judge panel will interview the participants and select two students to attend the Washington Youth Tour in June.

CEC sponsors students to attend the state and national Youth Tours each year. The purpose of the Youth Tour is to inform young people about how cooperatives benefit their members, to provide an opportunity to see government in action, and to meet other young people from across the state and nation while visiting historical sites and landmarks.