Local high school students were in Washington, D.C., during the annual “Youth to Washington” Tour, June 15-22, 2012. Tyler Ormond of Liberty and Stephanie Dearwester of Paloma represented Adams Electric Cooperative. Emery Gronewold of Golden, Kassie Henry of Bowen, and Kurt Schuster of Golden represented Adams Telephone Co-Operative. This event, sponsored by the electric and telephone cooperatives of Illinois, began in the late 1950s to introduce rural youths to cooperatives and our democratic form of government.
The students met with Congressman Aaron Schock and were among 75 rural Illinois youth leaders selected for the trip. The Illinois students joined 1,500 young leaders from across the country. In addition to the Capitol, they also visited the Civil War Battlefield at Gettysburg, Arlington National Cemetery, the Washington National Cathedral, the Smithsonian Museums, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Vietnam, Korean, World War II, Lincoln, Jefferson, FDR and Martin Luther King Jr. Memorials, the National Archives, the Newseum and a number of other sites.
Adams Electric Cooperative is a member of Touchstone Energy— an alliance of more than 720 local, consumer-owned electric utilities around the country. Adams Electric Cooperative is committed to providing superior service based on four core principles: integrity, accountability, innovation and commitment to community. The co-op serves more than 8,500 members over 2,226 miles of line in parts of Adams, Brown, Hancock, McDonough, Pike and Schuyler counties.
Adams Telephone Co-Operative serves more than 3,300 members throughout Adams, Brown, Hancock, McDonough, Pike and Schuyler counties. Beginning with telephone service in 1952, the Cooperative has evolved into a full-scale telecommunications company, offering telephone, video, and Internet services to West Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri.