Grants students win CDEC Youth tour

J.R. Morgan helps his stepson Colby Yazzie with a math equation at Wingate Elementary Tuesday night. The pair, as well as many others, attended "Understanding the Math You Didn't", a hands-on presentation for parents and children that teaches them to take numbers apart to make mathematics make sense. — © 2009 Gallup Independent / Brian Leddy

Copyright © 2009
Gallup Independent
By Helen Davis
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — Two area high school juniors will be going to Washington this June courtesy of Continental Divide Electric Cooperative. The young women are the first and second place winners of the co-op’s annual Government-In-Action essay contest.

Kaitlyn Bloomfield of Ramah High School and Alicia Polk of Grants High School have been selected as representatives for the co-op’s service area based on essays they wrote for the contest. Bloomfield and Polk will join 1,500 other winners from around the country in the capital from June 13 to 19, said Mac Juarez, CDEC spokesman in Grants.

“I am so, so excited, you wouldn’t believe it,” Bloomfield, who scored highest in the area contest, said.

The junior said she has lived in Ramah all her life but has traveled outside the state in the past. “I really like traveling,” she said.

Polk, a junior at Grants High, said going to Washington is something she has wanted to do. “I am very excited,” she said and added that the trip will be good experience and she would get to meet new people. Polk scored second highest with the three-judge committee of CDEC employees, who rated essays without knowing who wrote them.

Essay entrants had to answer the question, “How can our nation meet growing energy needs, while at the same time addressing climate change and keeping electricity affordable for everyone?” in their 500-word essays.

Bloomfield said that at first she thought the topic would be boring, but as she conducted days of research and found herself thinking about it, it became very interesting. “I didn’t know there were the so many forms of energy,” she said. “Alternative energy is really interesting.”

Polk also said she found the topic was interesting. It is one she had thought about before, but not as seriously as she did while working on the essay, she said.

The students will stay in the Hyatt Regency Crystal City in the capital city. The tour will include visits to historic sites, national monuments, museums and most likely a meet-the-congressional representative in person. The girls will also get some time to see a ball game, take a canal boat cruise and go dancing.

Bloomfield said other students at her school who had won Continental Divide’s youth tour participation in the past helped to inspire her to enter the contest. One of her four older brothers competed one year but did not win, she added.

In previous contests for their service district, the coop has used various formats including requiring students to take a multiple choice test or write essays, Juarez said
“Continental Divide is very proud of this program. It’s a great opportunity for youth to see how our government works,” CDEC General Manager Dick Shirley said.

Bloomfield said she recommends that students enter the contest. “Even writing the paper is a good thing.”