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 Nicholas thought of the opportunity and trip.
Nicholas Sano
Nicholas is entering his junior year at Molalla High School, where he’s involved with the robotics club, track & field, leadership, and FBLA. He was also interested in the Youth Tour for the chance to travel somewhere new and to see government action. He was most looking forward to visiting the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts and the Smithsonian museums.
“I love learning and I love museums and seeing all of the cool things they have,” Nicholas said.
After the trip, Nicholas shared his thoughts on the trip and some of his favorite moments. He pointed to visiting Arlington National Cemetery as one of the most memorable experiences from the Youth Tour.
“I think that was a really exciting and fulfilling experience because there’s all these 5-star Generals that you may have heard about or may not have, but they’re really important to American history and won some of the biggest battles,” Nicholas said. “I also got to see the memorial to [JFK] and I thought that was just a really great part of the trip.”
Recalling what piece stuck out the most from the trip to him, Nicholas discussed visiting the FCC and seeing the action behind the scenes.
“One thing that stuck out was how much the FCC does and how much goes into regulating rural broadband … I think that’s really cool, and the fact that they have such a small agency to do that is really impressive,” Nicholas said.
Nicholas also said that seeing the legislative process in action ended up being a bit different than what he had originally thought.
“It seems like it’s way more complicated than I originally thought, I take it a little bit for granted,” he said. “There’s a lot of back and forth of ‘no, we have to rewrite this’ or ‘yes, we can allow this’ – really cool just to see it flow pretty smoothly.”
When asked what advice he would give to a student in the future on attending the Youth Tour in D.C., Nicholas offered two tips: be overprepared for the weather and bring comfortable walking shoes.
The trip also inspired Nicholas to reflect on his potential career interests, and he said he’s still looking at some form of engineering, maybe even in the world of rural broadband.
Click here to read the student spotlight on Soliel Sowa.
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