CABOT — It’s hard to turn down the trip of a lifetime. Cabot High School senior Caleigh Pickard went on an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., last summer as one of First Electric Cooperative’s representatives at the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour, and she said the trip changed her life.
“I knew coming into this that people kept telling me this would be the trip of a lifetime,” Pickard said. “I didn’t really believe it until it happened. Now, because of everything I’ve been able to do, I’ve even considered working in [electric] cooperatives, and I want to go into business or marketing. It’s changed my whole perspective of what I want to do with my life.”
Through that experience, she had an opportunity to learn about government, electric cooperatives and history through the historic sights and museums in D.C. She was then chosen to represent Arkansas as part of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Youth Leadership Council and will attend the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association conference in San Diego on Thursday.
Pickard said she applied for the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour on a whim.
“I was an aid for my favorite teacher, Sean Coker, and he had gotten a magazine [about the program], and he told me, ‘It’s free. It’s D.C. Why not?’” Pickard said. “So we filled it out and turned it in. I turned it in super early — like in August [2015] — and I forgot about it.”
Pickard was surprised to be called into First Electric for an interview and was even more surprised when she found out in March of last year that she had been accepted to the program.
“From there, this fantastic journey started,” she said.
In June, Pickard was one of 43 students from Arkansas to attend the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour in Washington, D.C.
“We did so much. It was so cool,” Pickard said. “I had never been to D.C. before.”
Some highlights for Pickard included referencing her favorite movie, Forrest Gump, at the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial, visiting the Holocaust Museum and seeing Dorothy’s famous red shoes in the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History.
“Other than that, I made some great friends,” she said. “I was actually just on the phone with one of them. She’s actually going to be my roommate at the University of Arkansas. It’s so cool how many people I’ve met through all of this.”
While Pickard was in D.C., she interviewed for the Youth Leadership Council and was selected as Arkansas’ only representative. She will attend the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association conference in San Diego, and she said she is excited to be a part of that gathering.
“We are there for four to five days, and we’re going to rotate out through meetings, so at anytime, half of us will be in meetings with speakers talking about leadership and co-ops, and the other half will be at a booth talking about the Youth Tour and our experiences,” Pickard said. “I’m really excited.”
Overall, Pickard said, her experience with the Youth Tour and the Youth Leadership Council has changed the way she thinks about her future. She is passionate about children with special needs — something she was told made her stand out in her Youth Leadership Council interview — but instead of special education, she is now thinking about studying business or marketing at the University of Arkansas.
“I’ve been thinking that if I go the business route, I could still open a school for [children with] special needs or something,” she said. “This trip had a huge impact.”
First Electric will accept applications for the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour through March 17. Any junior whose parents or guardians are members of First Electric may submit a Youth Tour application.
To find out more about the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour, including how to apply through First Electric, visit www.firstelectric.coop/community/washington-dc-youth-tour.