Rising high school seniors Missy Clanton, Colton Watson and Lizzie Mooney spent the week developing their leadership skills in Washington D.C.

The three students were selected to participate in the Electric Power Associations of Mississippi youth leadership program to learn valuable leadership and life skills.

Clanton, a Brookhaven Academy student, and Mooney, a Brookhaven home-schooled student, spent the week representing Magnolia Electric Power in Washington D.C., while Watson, who is also a Brookhaven Academy student, represented Southwest Mississippi Electric Power.

In order to participate in the program, the students submitted an application to the association and interviewed with representatives from different Mississippi electric companies.

Watson said the first interview process was the key to his selection into the program.

“I wasn’t too worried about the essay portion,” Watson said. “But in the interview process only two out of five students were selected. I came well dressed and tried to practice all of the formalities. I had manners. After my interview, I emailed them back and thanked them for the opportunity. They said that was one of the deciding factors in selecting me.”

Along with the initial interview process, the electric companies host a day where students work through team activities together, Clanton said.

“The companies pick out the leaders from that day and those move on to the Jackson conference,” Clanton said. “In Jackson, they did the same thing, but on a larger scale with all of the electric companies in Mississippi. The student leaders they choose from that group are the ones that got to come to Washington.”

Clanton, Watson and Mooney gathered at the Marriot Hotel in Jackson for two days in February for the program’s leadership workshop. Students were able to study leadership aspects, learn about the Mississippi government and hear presentations from government leaders, local businessmen and electric power professionals at the workshop, according to the EPAM’s website.

The three students were selected among the many in Jackson to travel to Washington D.C. to represent their electric company, along with 1,700 other rising high school seniors from across the nation for the Rural Electric Youth Tour.

The association’s goal for the students during their week in Washington D.C. is to learn about cooperatives, rural electrification, the city and government, according to the EPAM website.

“The experience comes down to electric companies giving kids the opportunity to visit the nation’s capital,” Clanton said. “It has been a great learning experience.”

Throughout the week the students visited Mount Vernon — George Washington’s plantation home — and Arlington Cemetery, toured the capitol and the Smithsonian and took a boat ride along the Potomac River.

The capitol building tour proved to be a huge hit between the three students.

“My favorite place we have visited on our tour would have to be the capitol building,” Mooney said. “Representative Gregg Harper was kind enough to take all of the Mississippi students on a tour, and he had so many great insights to share with us. It’s amazing how much history is in one city.”

Clanton agreed with Mooney’s sentiment.

“Meeting with Mississippi congressmen throughout the tour was amazing,” Clanton said. “It was an opportunity that we would have never experienced if Congressmen Harper had not been generous enough to help us out.”

The most memorable part of the trip for Watson involved the importance and history of the city.

“The best part is that we got to go to places where George Washington once stood, where Abraham Lincoln once sat, where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his ‘I have a dream’ speech,” Watson said. “I got to go to the House floor, where every single president has stood at one point. It was surreal to thing that I got to be where such memorable people in history once were.”

The first day of the trip holds the most memorable moment for Mooney.

“On Monday morning, all 1,700 students from 43 different states were gathered together in on room singing the national anthem,” Mooney said. “It gave me chills to hear that many youth, from all of America, singing our anthem.”

Clanton believes the youth that attended the Washington D.C. tour were chosen due their respect and leadership skills, shown by the singing of the anthem.

“The people I was with all week were spectacular. I have never met people that I could get along with better,” Clanton said. “We all have the same mind set.”

The three students agreed the experience proved to be the trip of a lifetime, and are incredibly thankful to Magnolia Electric Power and Southwest Electric Power for the opportunity, they said.