Colored folders, No. 2 pencils and binders top back-to-school shopping lists this fall, but students aren’t the only people thinking about what to bring to class.

Utility Pioneers shop all year long for ideas on how to engage students.

A few years back we created a summer reading list with books about electric co-ops and broadband education. And on “The StoryConnect Podcast” we’ve heard several ideas to help your utility make the grade this school year. Tune in or watch on our YouTube podcast playlist to shop for fresh ideas for this school year!

1. Start Young and Keep Connecting

Starting with kindergarten, the team at Oklahoma Electric Co-op offers educational programs to students throughout their school experience.

The co-op’s Get Charged Program offers hands-on electricity education curriculum for students in kindergarten through fifth grade.

“Every grade has a different lesson,” explains Tory Tedder-Loffland, who developed the program when working for the co-op. She now operates a training and curriculum development program called The Co-op Box. “They all align with state standards, so you can go into the classroom without taking important classroom time away from the teacher. You are adding to their toolbox of resources. Every grade has a different lesson, and we provide all the materials needed to do that lesson to make that experiment happen.”

Lessons include:

• Making a compass while studying the electromagnetic spectrum and magnetic power.
• Creating a simple circuit with a switch to communicate in Morse code.

Teachers and homeschool groups can schedule a co-op visit or check out kits from the co-op. To hear how the programs developed and why engaging children became a strategic focus for the utility over the last decade, tune in to Episode 312.

2. Create Hands-On Learning Moments

Often utilities attend career fairs with a table and brochures highlighting careers. Why not create your own career day and bring students to you? That’s what Community Electric Co-op does every spring for high school students across Virginia.

The co-op’s “Day in the Life of a Lineman” student experience raises awareness of utility career paths and lineworker scholarships. Students spend half a day climbing poles, going up in a bucket truck, changing out lights and other hands-on activities and safety awareness stations.

“Our students really want to get their hands dirty,” says CEC’s Manager of Communications Jessica Parr, who heads up the annual event. “We set up cross arm change out stations and gave them nuts and bolts to put on while wearing thick rubber gloves. Kids come from everywhere for this program!”

Homeschoolers are a big audience for the experience, and any students who want to go on the youth tour in Washington, D.C., or apply for scholarships must attend the experience, too. The program continues to grow as awareness spreads. For the full story, tune in to Episode 309.

3. Let Students Lead

Icebreakers, scholarships and character building define EmPOWER, a youth leadership program for high school juniors in South Dakota and Minnesota. Sioux Valley Energy began the program almost a decade ago, with 600 student graduates and counting.

“We want the youth of today to understand the cooperative difference,” Sioux Valley Energy Culture and Training Development Strategist Chinelle Christensen says.

Students meet four times a year on student holidays to:

• Identify personal strengths
• Build a network of peers
• Experience leadership training
• Learn co-op basics

The program, limited to 40 students each school year, targets rising high school juniors. Only program participants are eligible for the Washington, D.C. Youth Tour and college scholarships, with weight given to whether the student attends EmPOWER sessions and co-op member meetings, too. Student involvement is an important part of the co-op’s annual meeting.

“I think it’s incredibly important for our membership to see what we’re doing with the youth, that we’re making an impact on them,” Chinelle says. “These are our future leaders, employees, members and board of directors.”

Five high school seniors are elected to lead the following year’s EmPOWER class, earning additional scholarships for their leadership and program support.

“They walk alongside me and help plan that year,” Chinelle explains. “They offer ideas for team builders and run the team builder sessions. They’re actively involved in the promotion of the program for that next year. We model it on our cooperative board. It gives them an opportunity to be a leader in a role.”

Tune in to Episode 304 to hear more about the EmPOWER program and to download the planning materials used at Sioux Valley Energy.

4. Train Teachers, Too

To get Georgia teachers excited about energy education, Coweta-Fayette EMC launched a STEM Teachers Alternative Energy Summer Adventure in 2021. The program helps local teachers teach about the future of energy in their classrooms.

“Everybody is interested in STEM, but we didn’t want it to be an extra responsibility on the teachers to come up with curriculum,” Maggie Reenstra, Coweta-Fayette EMC’s community and economic development coordinator, explains.

She developed a three-day program for teachers including:

• A visit to the Georgia Tech Kendeda Building for Innovative and Sustainable Design
• The tour of a utility solar farm and two privately held solar arrays
• Professor-led sessions on how to bring experiments and activities into the classroom to get students excited about hands on learning and the energy industry

“What many of us were surprised about was how passionate these teachers are,” Maggie says. “They are passionately rolling this out. They are not just presenting a lesson. They want to passionately change the lives of their children. And I think that made us all feel really good about the program, but also our future.”

The program won NRECA’s 2022 Edgar F. Chesnutt Award. Watch the video below for event highlights, then tune in to Episode 198 for details about this award-winning program!

Love these ideas?

Follow “The StoryConnect Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast and YouTube so you don’t miss future episodes. And if you have an idea you’d like to share on the podcast, send it to hello@pioneer.coop.