AMERICUS — Kahria Lenzie Hadley, a junior at Americus-Sumter High School, was recently selected to represent Sumter EMC on the 2016 Washington Youth Tour. Sumter EMC sponsors the Youth Tour — a weeklong, all-expense-paid trip to our nation’s capital — to help students develop leadership skills and learn the history of the rural electrification program.
Hadley will be among more than 100 Georgia high school students participating in this year’s event, which is set forJune 9-16. The Youth Tour begins with stops in Georgia then moves to historic sites and other events in Washington, D.C. The Youth Tour is Georgia’s oldest leadership program for teens.
Hadley comes from a family of academics and is an accomplished student. Not counting her own family, her most inspiring teacher is Nathelma Maxwell. Maxwell taught her eighth-grade social studies.
“She opened my world to social studies and nurtured my love of government,” Hadley stated. “It’s one of the reasons I am so excited to be a part of the Youth Tour and to have this opportunity to see my textbooks come to life, personally meet members of Georgia’s congressional delegation and get a firsthand look at our government in action.”
In addition to her academic work, Hadley is captain of the cheerleading squad, Junior Class secretary, a member of the Superintendent’s Cabinet and executive secretary of DECA Chapter. She is also a member of the Beta Club and the school’s math and tennis teams.
Hadley was nominated for Governor’s Honors, won the Top Ten class award in the ninth grade, and participated in the Sweet 16 with the ASHS Lady Panthers tennis team.
In her spare time, she loves spending time with her family, studying current events, and shopping.
Hadley’s future plans include pursuing a degree in marketing and advertising from Mercer University with a minor in American government and politics.
Hadley is the daughter of Kimothy and Tawnya Hadley of Americus. The family attends Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, where she sings in the choir and is a member of the church’s dance team.
The Youth Tour was inspired by former president Lyndon Johnson who encouraged electric cooperatives “to send youngsters to the nation’s capital where they can actually see what the flag stands for and represents.” Since 1964, the Washington Youth Tour has given more than 50,000 students representing 640 of America’s electric cooperatives the opportunity to take part in this once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Reprinted from the April 2016 issue of SEMCO News, the official member newsletter of Sumter Electric Membership Corporation.