Singing River Electric hosted its Youth Leadership Program Cooperative University at its Lucedale office on September 30, 2022. All high schools within Singing River Electric’s service territory were invited to nominate one member of the junior class to represent the school. Student nominees were required to have a minimum 3.0-grade point average, be involved in extracurricular activities, be active in civic and community activities, and receive electricity from Singing River Electric.
During Cooperative University, students were encouraged to get to know each other through networking activities, learned about the cooperative form of business, and took a closer look at how Singing River Electric provides power to its members and restores power after an outage. They also learned about SRE’s fiber internet subsidiary, Singing River Connect, and the process for bringing broadband to residents.
A legislative panel discussion driven by student questions was the highlight of the day. Senators Dennis DeBar and Jeremy England answered questions about the legislative process and progress in education for our state. Each student also participated in a 10-minute interview moderated by a panel of out-of-town judges from electric cooperatives across the state. Based on the student interviews and participation throughout the day, Kameryn Bardwell (East Central High School), Kevin McLain (Wayne County High School), and Daniel Pickens (Resurrection High School) were selected to attend the 2023 Youth Leadership Workshop in Jackson in March and the Youth Tour of Washington, D.C. in June.
For more information about the Youth Leadership Program, visit singingriver.com/my-community/#youth.
