2022 Scholarship Recipients and Youth Tour Wrap-Up

Every year, YEC awards 10 $1,000 Touch­stone Ener­gy Schol­ar­ships to grad­u­at­ing seniors at each area high school. To apply, stu­dents must be served by the Coop­er­a­tive. YEC also awards one $1,000 Tech­ni­cal Advan­tage Schol­ar­ship to a grad­u­at­ing senior attend­ing York Tech­ni­cal Col­lege in the fall, and one $500 Work-Based Learn­ing Schol­ar­ship to a senior par­tic­i­pant at the Floyd D. John­son Tech­nol­o­gy Cen­ter.

$1,000 Touch­stone Ener­gy Schol­ar­ships

Cataw­ba Ridge High School

Sarah Tay­lor
Par­ents: Kim­ber­ly and Mar­vin Tay­lor
Col­lege: North Greenville Uni­ver­si­ty
Field of Study: Edu­ca­tion

Clover High School

Dylan Tay­lor
Par­ents: Melis­sa and Rodger Tay­lor
Col­lege: Clem­son Uni­ver­si­ty
Field of Study: Mar­ket­ing and Sports Edu­ca­tion

Fort Mill High School

Dorothy Augen­braun
Par­ents: Kim­ber­ly and Craig Augen­braun
Col­lege: Clem­son Uni­ver­si­ty
Field of Study: Engi­neer­ing

Indi­an Land High School

Bel­la Siko­rs­ki
Par­ents: Wendy and Jay Siko­rs­ki
Col­lege: Clem­son Uni­ver­si­ty
Field of Study: Ani­mal and Vet­eri­nary Sci­ence

Nation Ford High School

Megan Andrews
Par­ents: Alli­son and Harold Andrews
Col­lege: Mis­sis­sip­pi State Uni­ver­si­ty
Field of Study: Archi­tec­ture

Rock Hill High School

Andrew Beuch, Jr.
Par­ents: Eliz­a­beth and Andrew Beuch, Sr.
Col­lege: Clem­son Uni­ver­si­ty
Field of Study: Busi­ness Man­age­ment

South Pointe High School

Jacob Bell
Par­ents: Eri­ka and David Bell
Col­lege: Clem­son Uni­ver­si­ty
Field of Study­Wildlife and Fish­eries Biol­o­gy

York Com­pre­hen­sive High School

Laney Reel
Par­ents: Leslie and Aaron Reel
Col­lege: Uni­ver­si­ty of South Car­oli­na
Field of Study: Dance Edu­ca­tion in the Hon­ors Col­lege

York Prepara­to­ry Acad­e­my

Leah Wat­son 
Par­ents: Amy and Christo­pher Wat­son
Col­lege: Col­lege of Charleston
Field of Study: Biol­o­gy

Legion Col­le­giate Acad­e­my

Alex­is Goode
Par­ents: Christy and Eric Goode
Col­lege: Uni­ver­si­ty of South Car­oli­na
Field of Study: Mar­ket­ing and Visu­al Com­mu­ni­ca­tions

Home­school

Luka Milo­jkovic
Par­ents: Mir­jana and Borislav Milo­jkovic
Col­lege: Ander­son Uni­ver­si­ty
Field of Study: Bio­chem­istry

$1,000 Tech­ni­cal Advan­tage Schol­ar­ship

Jacob Clark, Rock Hill High School
Par­ents: Jen­nifer Lusk and Chuck Clark
Col­lege: York Tech­ni­cal Col­lege
Field of Study: Busi­ness

$500 Work-Based Learn­ing Schol­ar­ship

Ken­neth Grif­fin, York Com­pre­hen­sive High School
Par­ents: Alice and Ken­neth Grif­fin, Jr.
Col­lege: Uni­ver­si­ty of South Car­oli­na
Field of Study: Crim­i­nal Jus­tice

 

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Local teens experience leadership on Youth Tour

Brown named man­ag­er of Soda Pop Co-op

For stu­dents drawn toward lead­er­ship, Wash­ing­ton Youth Tour is the ide­al expe­ri­ence.

Thanks to York Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive, Jor­dan Brown, Lan­don Wolf, and Alaina Rinkes were among 49 South Car­oli­na high school stu­dents sent by their elec­tric coop­er­a­tives to Wash­ing­ton, D.C. in June. The expe­ri­ence went beyond a tra­di­tion­al school field trip. In addi­tion to vis­it­ing the city’s mon­u­ments and memo­ri­als, the stu­dents start­ed their own co-op and met with leg­is­la­tors and their staffs.

Brown, a ris­ing senior at Fort Mill High School, was named the man­ag­er of the Soda Pop Co-op. Through­out the trip the co-op sold snacks and bev­er­ages to the stu­dents from the lug­gage bin of their char­ter bus between des­ti­na­tions and at the hotel in the evenings. Brown, who was hired by the co-op’s five stu­dent board mem­bers after an inter­view process, kept the “store” stocked and deter­mined the hours of oper­a­tion.

“I learned a lit­tle bit more about how to run a busi­ness,” says Brown. “I always thought I could, but it’s a lit­tle hard­er than you think it is to run a suc­cess­ful busi­ness. And I got to learn about the co-op mod­el, which is very impor­tant.”

Dur­ing their vis­it to the Unit­ed States Capi­tol build­ing, Brown, Wolf, and Rinkes were wel­comed into Rep. Ralph Norman’s con­gres­sion­al office and met the Con­gress­man on the Capi­tol steps lat­er that day. For Wolf, it was an addi­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ty to thank Rep. Nor­man, who wrote a rec­om­men­da­tion let­ter on his behalf to the U.S. Mil­i­tary Acad­e­my. Sen. Tim Scott and Sen. Lind­sey Gra­ham also came to the Capi­tol steps to speak with the stu­dents.

“It was real­ly nice just to meet them and hear what they have to say,” says Wolf, who will be attend­ing West Point this fall. “And to see what they’re doing right now to help our coun­try.”

The stu­dents also vis­it­ed the Nation­al Holo­caust Memo­r­i­al Muse­um, the Nation­al Muse­um of African Amer­i­can His­to­ry and Cul­ture, the 9/11 Memo­r­i­al at the Pen­ta­gon, and the Viet­nam Vet­er­ans Memo­r­i­al. They toured Arling­ton Nation­al Ceme­tery and wit­nessed the chang­ing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Sol­dier.

“Dur­ing the chang­ing of the guard it was a lit­tle rough because my grand­pa had just died and he was in the Viet­nam War,” says Rinkes, a stu­dent at Clover High School. “It gave me time to process, but also to appre­ci­ate our vet­er­ans more.”

Due to COVID-19 pre­cau­tions, Wash­ing­ton Youth Tour 2022 is the first time in three years South Car­oli­na elec­tric coop­er­a­tives have been able to send stu­dents to the cap­i­tal.

“This was a won­der­ful expe­ri­ence,” says Rinkes. “It’s lit­er­al­ly life-chang­ing.”

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Schol­ar­ships