Aug 22, 2024 | posted by Conner Williams
Students from rural communities across the country have the opportunity to visit the nation’s capital for the Foundation for Rural Service Youth Tour. On the trip, students get to visit various museums, federal buildings, and historical monuments. The goal of the trip is to learn about the telecommunications industry and the role of community providers like DirectLink.
This year, DirectLink sponsored two local students to attend the trip to Washington, D.C. – Soliel Sowa from Mt. Angel and Nicholas Sano from Canby. Interested students completed an application process earlier this year and were selected based on their interests and experiences. Look for application information early in 2025. In the meantime, read on to learn what Soliel thought of the opportunity and trip.
Soliel Sowa
Soliel is entering her junior year at JFK High School in Mt. Angel. She is the co-president of their chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA), plays on the girls basketball team, and serves in her church’s youth ministry. Soliel said she was most interested in the Youth Tour for the opportunity to travel somewhere new and to see all the Smithsonian Museums along the National Mall, particularly the American History and Holocaust museums.
“History has always been something that has interested me, so I think being able to be there and experience that is really valuable,” Soliel said.
We caught up with Soliel after the trip to get some of her thoughts and hear about her favorite moments.
“I liked that we got to tour a lot of the capital buildings, and we just got to see a lot of where the decisions that we hear about actually take place, and I thought that was pretty cool,” she said.
On the day the group toured the Capitol, Soliel remarked that she enjoyed being able to talk to folks that work there every day.
“We got to talk to some of the people that work in that environment every day, and they get to be the center of our government,” Soliel said. “And something that really stuck out to me being there was that those are regular people, that’s the career and it’s just what they do. They’re a lot more like everybody else than a lot of people think.”
The group also toured the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) building, and Soliel said that was one of the highlights from the trip for her as well.
“I absolutely loved going to do that. We got to hear a lot about how things are decided, what’s accessible where, who gets to weigh in on different issues and what is prioritized,” she said. “It made me think about where I live … and in rural areas how important it is to have accessible telecom services for things like school and work but also just life.”
While she still has time to explore her interests, Soliel said the trip inspired her to think about her future as well.
“Being there made me realize that there’s a lot of things I could do where I’m directly impacting people and communities,” she said. “I do really like learning about the business world – I’m in FBLA and I absolutely love it, I love doing all of the competitions, the public speaking … I can make decisions later, but I really liked learning about other possible career paths I can take and what I can do with my skill set.”
Click here to read the student spotlight on Nicholas Sano.
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