Rainbow Selects Area Students for NTCA Foundation for Rural Services Youth Tour

Each year Rainbow Communications awards two area students an all-expense paid trip to Washington, DC to learn about rural telecommunications through the NTCA Foundation for Rural Services Youth Tour. The applicants are required to submit an application and video of how internet has affected their lives and how it is used in the community.  The students awarded for 2020 are Avery Wischropp of Horton, KS and Christian Shaffer of Hiawatha, KS.

Avery is the daughter of Trudy and Craig Wischropp of rural Horton, Kansas. A junior at Horton High School she is active in FFA, Dance, and is captain of the Scholars Bowl team. She is a First Chair in Band, in addition to maintaining a GPA of 4.0.  Avery is also involved in CEO, which is her school’s community service organization. She currently works for both Wischropp Auctions and Jim’s Thriftway, Horton, KS.

Christian is the son of Angela Shaffer and Richard Carroll, Hiawatha, KS. A junior at Hiawatha High School, he is involved in Cross Country, Theater, Track, Biology Club, FFA, FCA, HFED, Chess Club, Band, Vocal, and Forensics, and has a GPA of 3.5. Christian works at The Country Cabin, Hiawatha, KS, the Klinefelter Farm, and is a soccer referee for the Hiawatha Rec. Christian also serves as a junior board member for the Hiawatha Foundation for Economic Development. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the 2020 Youth Tour has been cancelled. In lieu of the trip, Rainbow awarded the recipients a $1,000 scholarship.

Rainbow is proud of these young technology users and the positive influence they have on their schools and communities. Although we wish they would have been able to attend the Youth Tour, we hope the scholarship will assist them in their future plans and endeavors.

The video applications are shown below.