Andrea Melton:
Welcome to Live Wire, a podcast powered by Kosciusko REMC. We are a member owned and locally operated cooperative that supplies electricity to portions of Kosciusko, Fulton, Wabash, and Whitley Counties, here in Northern Indiana. Live Wire is a program where we come together to discuss co-op matters, energy, community topics, and to communicate with KREMC members. I'm your host, Andrea Melton.

Hello and welcome to episode one of Live Wire. For this inaugural edition of Live Wire, we'll be talking about Youth Tour in Washington DC. If you've never heard of Youth Tour, here's a little background. For almost 60 years, rural electric cooperatives from around the country have sent students to DC for a week in the summer to see the sites, meet with lawmakers, learn from one another, and understand the important role that rural electric cooperatives play in their national government. A lot was going on in our country in 1964. Cassius Clay beat Sonny Liston for the World Heavyweight Championship.

Cassius Clay:
If he keeps talking about me, I would get him in three. If that don't do, he'll fall in two, and if he run, he'll go in one. And if he don't want to fight, he should keep himself home that night.

Andrea Melton:
And the Beatles performed on the Ed Sullivan Show. (Singing).

And, Clyde T. Thomas, NRECA General Manager, made the following statement to the first Youth Tour students.

Clyde T. Thomas:
I do hope you all enjoy your trip to Washington, and that it gives you a new perspective about your government. I hope you will never let anybody make you believe that your government is something way off, apart from you, when as a matter of fact, it is you.

Andrea Melton:
In fact, President Johnson was even on hand to address that first Youth Tour group.

President Johnson:
Over the years of my public career, no other domestic activity has been closer to my heart than the program which has lighted the homes and the lives of rural America. And, that's our program of Rural Electric Cooperatives.

Andrea Melton:
Last month, Kosciusko REMC was thrilled to sponsor local student, McKale Hagg, to attend the 2023 Youth tour. We are excited to have McKale with us today to talk about his experience.

Hi, McKale.

McKale Hagg:
Hey, thanks for having me.

Andrea Melton:
Thank you so much for joining us today. I really, really appreciate you taking the time. I think you're probably a pretty busy guy. So, start off by just telling me a little more about yourself, where you go to school, what kind of activities you're involved in, like the good stuff.

McKale Hagg:
Yeah, for sure. So, I go to Warsaw Community High School. I'm going to be a senior this coming year, and I do chess and track and field. And in track and field, I do shot put and discus, so.

Andrea Melton:
Cool. So you play chess and track and field?

McKale Hagg:
Yep.

Andrea Melton:
That's a very interesting combination of hobbies and skills.

McKale Hagg:
Yep.

Andrea Melton:
Was this your first time in our nation's capital in DC, or had you been before?

McKale Hagg:
Nope. It was my first time, and it was definitely a little stressful and a little overwhelming going into it. I thought I was going to know no one, and I was going to be super stressed out about it. But I ended up meeting a bunch of people and it didn't end up being nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be, and it ended up being an awesome trip.

Andrea Melton:
Well, that's awesome to know. So you said you were nervous, you were pretty scared. When you're leading up to the trip, was there anything that surprised you about Washington DC, that you maybe expected from it and it was different?

McKale Hagg:
So before going into this trip, I was looking at a bunch of maps of DC and trying to figure out where all these places that we were going was. And based on the maps, it looked like they were all in the same plaza, but when you go there, this plaza's like a lot larger than you thought it was going to be. And so we ended up doing a lot of walking, which was fine. I just didn't expect it to be as large as it was.

Andrea Melton:
Oh, yeah. I actually had that down as a question to ask. Do you know how much walking you did? Because I suspect it was probably a ton.

McKale Hagg:
It was a lot, it was a good amount, and it definitely depended on the day. Some days we would do memorial walks where they have little clusters of memorials, and so we just did little walks of memorials and I think we did two memorial walks in total. One day we visited the Smithsonians, and you could just walk around to the Smithsonian Museums. So it definitely depended on the day, but the memorial walks were probably a good amount of walking. One day we did the World War II Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial, and the Korean War Memorial also.

Andrea Melton:
Wow. All in one day.

McKale Hagg:
All in one day.

Andrea Melton:
So tell me about the first day. Do you ride on a bus to Washington DC?

McKale Hagg:
Yeah, so the first day, we basically meet in a convention center style thing for orientation. And basically you get there and you get walked through this almost like assembly line. So you get your name tag, and then they have a luggage drop off, so where you put your luggage. And then you go and you sit down with the fellow students that you're going on the trip with, and you talk until orientation begins, and then you get the rundown of everything that's happening. Where are we going? What is expected from you? How long this trip's going to be. Well, I mean you already knew how long it was going to be, but yeah, just the rundown of everything.

Andrea Melton:
So did you bus over with other Indiana participants?

McKale Hagg:
Yeah.

Andrea Melton:
Are you guys called delegates?

McKale Hagg:
I would say participants.

Andrea Melton:
Okay.

McKale Hagg:
But yeah, so basically all the Indiana participants are at orientation, and then there were two charter buses that we split up into. And you were either bus one or bus two, and that's how we went from place to place.

Andrea Melton:
So I know, I think from what I read, there were 1800 total students and chaperones from around the country who went on Youth Tour. Do you happen to know how many went from Indiana?

McKale Hagg:
So in total from Indiana, I believe there were 75.

Andrea Melton:
Did you kind of hang out with a lot of Indiana kids or did everybody mix up? And did you end up hanging out with people from all over the country?

McKale Hagg:
So that was really interesting actually, because when we initially met at this convention center, I met a bunch of kids off the bat. Went and sat down at a table with whoever you wanted to talk to at the time. And the kids I met at the table, I thought I was going to be best friends with the whole trip, hanging out with them all the time on the trip. But I actually ended up meeting a whole different groups of kids on this trip. Between, you have two different roommates on the trip, and one's your travel roommate and one's your DC roommate. And so, I ended up hanging out with many different groups of people and I really enjoyed all of them. I became good friends with all of them. We still text to this day.

Andrea Melton:
You mentioned the memorial walks and monuments. I know that you saw a lot. What really made an impression on you? What were some of your favorite moments in those historic places in DC?

McKale Hagg:
Yeah, so I would probably say my favorite thing that we saw was the Library of Congress and the Capitol building. And basically that was all combined up into a day that we called Hill Day, because it's Capitol Hill. And this was a day where you go to the Library of Congress to start out your day. And you just go into the Library of Congress, you kind of get to get a tour of everything. You get to go through the library, kind of see how it works, see all the ... You don't get to go up in the books, but you get to go in the library and see where all the books are at, and you can see people studying. And then after you get done at the Library of Congress, you go to the Capitol building and you meet with a senator.
And so, we met with an Indiana senator and we took a picture, and then we went in the Capitol building and we actually got a tour of the Capitol building by different staff. Some people, it was like the staff of their congressman or congresswoman, so ours was the staff of our Congressman Rudy Yakym. And that was awesome. And you're supposed to have a meeting with your congressman at some point on Capitol Hill Day. So, because of the different schedules, you're usually assigned a different time with your congressman to go and meet. And so ours was scheduled for, I believe, 4:30, and our tour was scheduled for 2:30. And so we started going on our tour a little bit. And then about 30 minutes into our tour, our staff member looks down at his phone and goes, "Oh, we're meeting with them now." Because congressmen, congresswoman have very flexible ... not flexible, very time-

Andrea Melton:
Yeah, inflexible.

McKale Hagg:
Yeah, inflexible schedules.

Andrea Melton:
They've got places to be.

McKale Hagg:
And yeah, they got everywhere to be. And so you always have to adjust to their schedule. And we're like, "Oh man, we're not prepared for this." We thought we were, but all of a sudden it got real and we're like, "We're about to go talk to a congressman." And so we went in and at first we were all kind like frozen, because we were like, "We don't know what to do. We weren't expecting it this early." But then our Congressman Yakym came in, and it ended up to being an awesome discussion about, we were talking to him about rural utility services financing, which just really helps with the financing in rural areas to help get electricity out to them. And with our wifi program, was helping with that.
And we were also talking to him about raising the legal minimum bandwidth from 21 over seven, to a hundred and over a hundred. And that ended up going really well with him. And he talked about how much of a huge proponent he was with that. And so, we just had an awesome discussion and we got to meet him and take a picture with him, and it was awesome.

Andrea Melton:
Interesting. Okay. I was going to ask if Congressman Yakym had kind of opened up the floor for questions for you guys to ask what you wanted to know, and sounds like that was a very valuable experience.

McKale Hagg:
Yeah, totally.

Andrea Melton:
Very cool. So from what I've read, a huge part of Youth Tour and the inspiration for Youth Tour back in the 1960s was teaching the students about the cooperative movement, and the role of electric cooperatives in our country. Can you tell me more about how that information was presented to you, or what you learned about co-ops during your trip?

McKale Hagg:
Yeah, so on orientation day, which is the first day you get there and you all meet up in this room, they kind of talk about cooperatives and introduce them to you, while also explaining what questions to ask your congressman on Hill Day. And, how to present these questions, and just how to communicate with your congressman, and how Hill day's going to go. But they run over electric cooperatives with you and just tell you basically how they work. And how they distribute the electricity to different areas in your community, and how just they brought out different staff members. For example, there was a whole branch of the IEC, that just works with talking to the government. And so they brought out people from there, and just talked to us about how they communicated with the government, and just what connections they made and how Hill Day was going to work. So, yeah.

Andrea Melton:
Absolutely. Was that kind of eye-opening for you, or surprising to learn about how cooperatives are structured as an organization?

McKale Hagg:
Yeah, so I mean, I knew a little bit about cooperatives because I've gone on a couple for middle schoolers, I know we have Touchstone Energy Camp. So I had been to that, so I had known a little bit about cooperatives, but I didn't understand the full extent of what cooperatives did. And that really opened my eyes and I was like, "Wow, they do all this stuff."

Andrea Melton:
I am a newer employee here at Kosciusko REMC, and as of just a few months ago, I've definitely learned a lot. And my eyes were opened to this cooperative world as well. And our history of cooperatives and rural electricity in the United States is really fascinating and interesting. Can you think of any other specific sessions or workshops that were particularly informative for you, or eye-opening out of everything that you did there?

McKale Hagg:
We went to Gettysburg one day and that was super eye-opening because we got to go to the Battlegrounds. And on our charter buses, we had a bus tour guide that led us around Gettysburg and talked through all this information. I mean, I thought Gettysburg was just this long expansive flat land, but it has mountains and all these hills and valleys. And I'm like, I did not know about that and all these monuments, and I learned a bunch of information about Gettysburg. Our tour guide taught us this little information, but he said, "On the monuments for the people that passed away in the battle, if they're riding horses, if the horse has one foot off the ground, that means they got injured in the battle. And if the horse has both hooves off the ground, that means they died in the battle."

Andrea Melton:
Wow.

McKale Hagg:
I did not know that information.

Andrea Melton:
That is very interesting to know. I wouldn't have known that either. Did you find that you had a lot in common with the other kids who went? Did you meet a lot of people from different backgrounds? What was that like?

McKale Hagg:
Yeah, for sure. So it was really interesting getting to meet everyone from a bunch of different areas in Indiana because we had, I mean, it was from everywhere. So I mean, we had kids from Lafayette, Gary. I was up north and there were a lot of kids from down south, so they were like, we're Sauers, we Savas, so that was really interesting. We had a kid from Tippecanoe come, and he was a really cool guy. I met a bunch of people from Lafayette. I think there was, Lafayette's split in two, I believe, two different cooperatives. And I think there's one in West Lafayette and then there's a different one in Lafayette. But it was really cool meeting all those kids because there were a lot of them, and they were kind of grouped up, but they just loved communicating with other people and getting to meet other people. And they were an awesome group, and I just loved meeting all of them.

Andrea Melton:
Do you think that the Youth Tour experience has influenced any career aspiration or any plan for the future? Or even just reaffirmed anything? And, what are your plans? I know you're going into your senior year, so.

McKale Hagg:
Yeah, so I'm actually kind of stuck in the middle of two things. I either want to go into engineering or I want to go into preaching. And those are two very different things, but I have different passions in both areas. I love talking about my faith and discussing it with other people, but I also love building things and designing things. So they're two completely different areas that I'm kind of stuck in the middle. But I think going on this trip really brought out my more of my public speaking, getting to meet other people's side, and my more just personable side. And I really loved getting to meet other people and seeing their different backgrounds, and just seeing where they're from and different experiences that they've had with similar things that I've experienced. And I think it was just an awesome experience.

Andrea Melton:
Very cool. And those communication skills and public speaking skills, they will serve you well, whether it be in a faith-based job in the future, or line of employment or engineering. Great skills to have. So in general, any other messages or lessons that you took away individually, from the experience?

McKale Hagg:
I mean, I just think another really impactful day was, we went to the Flight 93 Memorial. Before we got there on the bus, we actually watched the Flight 93 movie that was made about it, a couple years after it happened. And we got to the museum and we saw where it happened. They have a monument where it happened, and it was really impactful, because you hear about it and you hear what happened and you see the documentaries, but you get there and it's a whole different thing. Yeah, it's real. I mean, everyone was crying and it was impactful. You don't realize how bad it was until you're there. And you see, I mean, all these exhibits and all these pieces of history that got left behind by it. And they even had one station in the museum where you held the speaker up to your ear, and you could hear the final phone calls made in that.

Announcer:
Please be advised that these brief recordings include content of a sensitive nature. Parental guidance is recommended for younger visitors. Passenger Lauren Grandcolas phoned her husband, Jack, at 9:39 AM, about 11 minutes after the hijacking began, leaving this message on their home answering machine.

Lauren Grandcolas:
Honey, are you there? Jack, pick up, sweetie. Okay. Well, I just wanted to tell you, I love you. We're having a little problem on the plane. I'm totally fine. I just love you more than anything. Just know that, and I'm comfortable and I'm okay for now. Just a little problem. So, I just love you. Please tell my family I love them too. Bye, honey.

Andrea Melton:
Oh, my goodness.

McKale Hagg:
That got a lot of kids. That was super impactful and just awful. And, you realize how awful that day was for so many people.

Andrea Melton:
For sure. I was probably around, I was a year or two older than you when 911 happened. I have memories personally of that time in our country, and then locally. But yeah, I personally have not been to Washington DC, but I can only imagine how impactful that would be.

What would you say to other students who might be interested in applying for the Youth Tour opportunity?

McKale Hagg:
Yeah, so don't let the fact that you might go into this not knowing anyone, hold you back. Don't let that hold you back, because I know personally, I was terrified walking into that room, meeting everyone else. I was like, "I don't know if I'm going to be able to meet other people who I will make friends. I don't know. I don't know anyone coming on this trip." And you just got to go in and sit down with other people and learn their names and get to talk with them a little bit. And it sparks whole conversations that you can carry off of for the rest of the trip. And you can meet other people that you will make relationships with for the rest of your life. And I think that was one of the best parts of the trip, was just making new relationships. And I have group chats with these people now, that I still message with and talk with all the time, and it's awesome.

Andrea Melton:
Well, McKale, I think that wraps it up, but thank you so much for joining me today.

McKale Hagg:
No problem.

Andrea Melton:
I appreciate you being brave enough to be the first guest. Very much enjoyed hearing about your experience on the Youth Tour, and just getting to know you as a person. So have a great rest of your summer and senior year. It sounds to me like you're going places, and thank you for being a good representative for us on the Youth Tour.

McKale Hagg:
Yeah, thanks for having me.

Andrea Melton:
During the month of June, Indiana's electric cooperative sponsor a group of students going into their senior year of high school, to go on a life-changing educational adventure to Washington DC. The Youth Tour trips' expenses are paid for students selected to participate. If you'd like to find out more about our youth programs, including Youth Tour, visit kremc.com and click on Community. Applications for Youth Tour will be due in March.

You've been listening to Live Wire, the official podcast of Kosciusko REMC. To learn more about KREMC, visit our website, kremc.com, and follow us on social media. Thanks for listening.