On the drive from her home outside Kerrville to a hotel in Austin, high school junior Ella Robbins had butterflies. She was excited about her upcoming adventure, for sure.
“But I was mostly nervous,” Robbins says. “I didn’t know anybody, and I was really nervous about what people were going to think of me and just self-conscious.”
The nerves lingered as she arrived and checked in June 15, 2025, for the Government-in-Action Youth Tour trip to Washington, D.C. Everyone was friendly, Robbins recalls, though some teens kept to themselves, scrolling on their phones. But the 143 strangers were all about to board the same flight to the nation’s capital, where everything would change.
In D.C., Robbins marveled at the towering stained-glass windows of the National Cathedral and felt awe when she looked out from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and saw the reflection of the Washington Monument. But what really changed her trip was the second day, when she found herself in a bus seat across from Sierra Nickel of Uvalde.
“As soon as I started talking to her, it was really great,” Robbins says. She can’t quite remember what they talked about in that first conversation where they clicked so easily, maybe Taylor Swift—who else?—but the two became fast friends. Robbins soon found herself getting lost in the excitement and packed schedule of the trip, frequently with Nickel at her side.
Texas students, from left, Cutter Bruce, South Plains EC; Addison Wearden, Concho Valley EC; and James Bell and Madalyn Gonzales, Big Country EC, participate in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery.
Samantha Bryant | TEC
“I kind of stopped worrying about what people were thinking of me,” Robbins says.
For 60 years, electric cooperatives across Texas have sent high school students to Washington for this all-expenses-paid week of sightseeing and learning. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience in which little moments—like that one on the bus—lead to unexpected memories and friendships.
With growing confidence, Robbins, sent by Heart of Texas Electric Cooperative, and her new friend, sent by Medina Electric Cooperative, explored the monuments and memorials of the National Mall, museums and Capitol Hill. At the Capitol, Robbins was able to do what she’d come here for.
In U.S. Rep. August Pfluger’s office, Robbins got a peek into the day-to-day functions of a congressional office.
She wanted to ask about the process of applying for disability insurance and legislation relating to service dogs. The topic was close to her heart—her father is blind and uses a guide dog. She was concerned about his difficulty securing resources and the hostility he sometimes faces when bringing his dog into public spaces. At the Capitol, she shared her ideas with one of Pfluger’s aides.
Ella Robbins from Heart of Texas EC holds up her Youth Tour challenge coin, which students were awarded for going above and beyond.
Claire Stevens | TEC
From left, Austin Rees, Jolie Cox and Hannah Thetford represent United Cooperative Services at the U.S. Capitol during the 2025 Youth Tour.
Samantha Bryant | TEC
“He was actually interested in having a conversation, and that was really nice. I was informing him of some things, and he was telling me more about the legislative side,” Robbins says. “He says they try and pass lots and lots of bills, and occasionally they’ll just get one or two. It’s just a very difficult process. I didn’t realize.”
That was one learning opportunity among many. Some students sat down with and heard from survivors at the Holocaust Memorial Museum. Participants had the opportunity to obtain a library card at the Library of Congress, visited George Washington’s home at Mount Vernon and danced together in front of the White House.
On the last day in D.C., they toured Arlington National Cemetery, where they witnessed a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
“That was one of the reasons I wanted to go, was to honor our fallen soldiers who didn’t get recognized,” says James Bell of Aspermont, one of four Texas students selected to lay the wreath. “My great-grandparents were buried at the Arlington cemetery, so that was awesome, to have that much of an honor to do that where they’re buried.”
The cemetery requires silence at the tomb, a memorial for fallen U.S. soldiers whose remains have not been identified. In a solemn ceremony, Bell and the three other students stepped in sync with one of the tomb’s guards before placing a wreath of red and white flowers in front of the marble monument.
“Laying the wreath was amazing,” says Bell, who was sponsored by Big Country Electric Cooperative. Watching Bell was his brother, Jack, who had gone on the tour two years before, and his uncle, a retired Army chief warrant officer, both of whom unexpectedly showed up at the ceremony. “It was a really big surprise.”
By the time the teens boarded the flight home, the early nerves were nowhere to be seen. No longer strangers, they left with unexpected bonds that span the state.
“My favorite part—it sounds cliché—it’s the people,” says Eli Felcman, a delegate from Concho Valley Electric Cooperative. “I met lifelong friends.”
