One of Jay County REMC’s missions is to support the communities we serve. One way we do this is through our youth programs available to area students. These programs include the Cooperative Calendar of Student Art, Camp Kilowatt, and Indiana Youth Tour. The deadlines to apply for these programs are fast approaching, so interested students should apply today. For more information, visit jayremc.com.
To highlight the benefits that students receive from these programs, here is a first-hand account of the Indiana Youth Tour from Austyn LeMaster, Jay County’s REMC’s 2024 delegate.

The trip to Washington, D.C., was definitely a trip of a lifetime. I met many new people, made new friends, saw the Capitol, and had a lot of fun. Everyone was a little shy and quiet on the first day, and some were nervous. When we got to the hotel that night, we thought that we should play cards when we were done eating. We played for about two hours, and people started to open up a bit more.
The next day was driving about three hours to the Flight 93 memorial. The memorial had recordings of some of the calls from people on the plane, and it was really interesting to hear them.
Tuesday was one of the days that I looked forward to. We would see the Gettysburg Battlefield, head to Washington, and go to the Washington Nationals baseball game. Gettysburg was very cool. I had always wanted to go there. Most of us thought it was just a couple of large fields soldiers fought in. We were completely wrong.
As we headed to Washington, we saw some hills and wooded areas. We arrived at the hotel and had time to relax for a while. Later, we came down to head to the game. Once we got to the stadium, it was packed. I thought a Tuesday night game wouldn’t be as full. We sat down in some pretty good seats and watched the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Nationals. It was a good game.
Wednesday was Mount Vernon, the Marine Corps Museum, and the Youth Day program. I thought that Mount Vernon, home of President George Washington, was a cool place and
I didn’t realize it was that big of a property. We got to visit the museum and see some of the actual items from the plantation.
When we went to the Marine Corps Museum, we didn’t realize that all of the equipment and tools in the museum were the real deal. They took molds of the Marines in combat and cast identical copies to put into the museum.
That night, we had the Youth Day program and dinner. Everyone traded their pins and met new people from different states. They had a speaker come in who was shot by his friend when he was young. He talked about his motivators and what kept him going. It was a very interesting speech.
Thursday was Capitol Hill day. We toured the Capitol Building, met with some congressional representatives, and visited the Library of Congress, the White House, and the Jefferson Memorial.
The Capitol Building tour was not what I thought it was going to be. The rotunda was huge, and the old meeting room was interesting to see. The congressional representatives talked to us about their jobs and other things.
When we went to the Library of Congress we all thought it was weird that they were selling food and drinks on the inside of the Library. It was more touristy than I thought it would be. We went to the White House, but something was going on, and we couldn’t get close. We went to eat, and when we came back to the White House, we got right up to the fence to take pictures. To end the day, we saw the Jefferson Memorial at night. The skyline was lit up, and the water reflected the lights.
On Friday, we visited the Pentagon Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, Iwo Jima Memorial, Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the National Mall and explored the harbor outside the hotel. The Pentagon Memorial was cool to see. At Arlington, it was very cool to see all the rows of perfectly straight tombstones and the changing of the guard.
The Holocaust Memorial Museum was hard-hitting. It was dead silent, and no one said a word. At the National Mall, we were challenged to find a Kilroy graphic on a memorial for $10. Four of us found it first. After that, we walked around and saw all the memorials. Later, we went back to the hotel to get everything ready to leave the next morning. We then met up and walked down to the harbor to eat and look around. Three of us decided to try crab cakes. We spent the rest of the night at the harbor and then headed back to the hotel.
Saturday, we went to the Smithsonian museums and then headed to Columbus, Ohio — our stop on the way home. A group of us planned to go to the National Archives and see the Constitution. But, due to our schedule, we visited the Museum of Natural History instead. I had no idea what that meant, but someone said it’s dinosaurs, cavemen, and mummies. We were given three hours, but that was not even close to enough time to see it all. It was very cool.
We had lunch and then headed for Columbus. We had about three hours left to go when our other coach blew a tire. It was no huge deal, so we stopped at a McDonald’s, and our bus returned to get the others to take them to another place. Around three hours later, we were back on the road. We arrived at the hotel around midnight and had pizza at about 1:30 a.m.
Sunday was the last day, and we were to head home from Ohio. When we got back, everyone said their goodbyes and traveled back home.
I enjoyed this trip and all of the new people that I met. I really appreciate Jay County REMC sponsoring me and allowing me to go on this trip.
Thank you again,
Austyn LeMaster