Capital Idea
Two teens will represent Bluebonnet on summer youth tour of D.C.
By Ed Crowell
Two young people from Smithville and Caldwell will represent Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative on a trip to Washington D.C. this summer to learn more about how government operates and the value of rural electric cooperatives.
They’ll also get to take in the sights and visit monuments, most of which they’ve only read about or seen on television.
Samuel King and Marisol Palomares, both 17, will be among 102 young people going to the nation’s capital through the Texas Electric Cooperatives’ Government-in-Action Youth Tour program, June 9-17.
The program got its start when Texan and former President Lyndon B. Johnson was a U.S. senator. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association began coordinating tours in 1964 and now about 1,500 teens visit Washington at the same time each year to observe the roles of elected representatives and attend association events.
The two from Bluebonnet’s service area topped a dozen other area applicants in answering questions about themselves, government and energy efficiency.
They were chosen after in-person interviews with four county commissioners on March 2.
Palomares lives in Caldwell and is a senior at St. Joseph’s Catholic School in Bryan. She said she was nervous going into the interviews with the commissioners “but I spoke clearly and it wasn’t too bad. The most difficult question was when they asked whether I liked the government. I said I’d had some problems with how it’s handled some issues, but that the United States has one of the best governments around because we have our freedoms.”
Accepted at Texas A&M and the University of Texas, Palomares said she is exploring financial aid and trying to decide which school to attend. She wants to become a marine biologist.
King lives on a farm outside Smithville and is home schooled. He enjoys working with his farm animals, but is most challenged by keeping their pens and farm equipment in shape.
“I love to put things together and make them work,” he said.
A junior now, he is considering the Air Force or Naval academies, and hopes to study mechanical engineering.
Bluebonnet’s Karen Urban, administrative assistant and scholarship coordinator for the Community & Economic Development Department, and Gene Urban, manager of facilities, will be among the chaperones this year. If either of the winners cannot make the trip, Kamerona Schnautz of Luling is the alternate student selected.