Student’s Co-op essays earn trip to Washington D.C.

Two Stillwater County high school students will take an all-expenses paid, weeklong trip to Washington, D.C. in June as part of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Youth Tour.
Sophomores Chloe Flynn, of Absarokee, and Solomon Arno, of Rapelje, were the winners of an essay contest held by Beartooth Electric Cooperative to determine which local students would go on the tour. Five other Stillwater County students entered essays.
A total of 27 students from Montana and 16 more from North Dakota will be on the tour sponsored by the Montana Electric Cooperatives Association. The June 10-17 trip to Washington will be led by MECA program and events specialist Beckie Friedoni.
Beartooth Electric’s essay question was, “Considering your top three consumer needs, how do you believe we, as an electric cooperative, can best communicate our care and concern to the younger members of the cooperative?”
Flynn, a sophomore at Absarokee High School, said she wrote a four-page answer.
“Loyalty begins when people are younger,” she said. “Beartooth Electric needs to look to social media, scholarships and being involved in the community on a younger-consumer basis.”
When it comes to school, Flynn says she’s interested in everything – she had a leading role in this year’s high school play, she was a cheerleader, and she’ll play on the golf team this spring. She also is an officer with the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America club, and she’s applying to be an officer with the Business Professionals of America club.
But her real interest is pastry – Flynn took a four-week long cake decorating class in Billings and hopes to attend the Oregon Culinary Institute in Portland after graduating from high school.
The Youth Tour’s itinerary includes the Martin Luther King Memorial, the Capitol and the Smithsonian Institute.
“I hope to see the International Spy Museum and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – my sister Taylor saw it on her Close Up trip and really liked it,” Flynn said.
Flynn said she’s been told they won’t get much sleep during the Youth Tour – there’s too much to do, from museum tours and boat trips on the Potomac River to a dance that ends at 3 a.m., just two hours before the students will head to the airport for their flight home.