YEC youth education, contests, and summer safety

Appli­ca­tions now open for YEC’s Bright Ideas Grants for local teach­ers. For the fourth year, York Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive and Oper­a­tion Round Up will fund grants for local teach­ers. Appli­cants can win up to $1,000 to help pay for inno­v­a­tive learn­ing meth­ods and mate­ri­als to sup­port stu­dents in their class­rooms.

Learn more and apply online at our Bright Ideas Grant page.

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YEC trucks display student art

For an entire year, 8th grad­er Rachel Eck­ert of Fort Mill will have her art­work shown on each of YEC’s trucks. Eckert’s depic­tion of “The Pow­er of Com­mu­ni­ty” is now promi­nent­ly dis­played as a bumper stick­er on each of the co-op’s vehi­cles.

Eck­ert, a stu­dent at Gold Hill Mid­dle School in Fort Mill, won YEC’s sec­ond annu­al Co-op Mag­net Design Chal­lenge for mid­dle school stu­dents ages 11–14. Young artist Eck­ert enjoys think­ing cre­ative­ly and mak­ing art in her free time.

“I’d like to be an artist or a doc­tor some­day,” she shares. As this year’s win­ner, Eck­ert received $50 and the chance to have her art shown on all YEC vehi­cles until June 2023. Be sure to keep an eye out in the com­mu­ni­ty for her art­work!

Want to par­tic­i­pate next year? Learn more at our mag­net con­test page.

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Creative young minds

Local artist col­ors for safe­ty

The win­ner of YEC’s 2022 Line­men Gear Up for Safe­ty Col­or­ing Con­test is Jor­dyn Hart of Fort Mill. Daugh­ter of Lind­sey and Joe Hart, the first grad­er loves to col­or and draw.

“She was just so excit­ed to par­tic­i­pate and couldn’t wait to hear who won,” Hart’s mom shares. As part of her prize pack­age, Hart received $50 and a YEC hard­hat, signed by our local linework­er heroes here at the co-op. She also got a tour of our grounds and line trucks!

Learn how to par­tic­i­pate in next year’s Line­man Gear Up for Safe­ty Col­or­ing Con­test.

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Kids, play it safe this summer

Look for elec­tri­cal haz­ards while you’re hav­ing fun in the sun

YEC is always look­ing out for its mem­bers, includ­ing our youngest. Kids, while you’re hav­ing fun in the sun, here are a few safe­ty tips to keep in mind.

• See a big green box? That green box might look fun to climb up and sit on, but it’s actu­al­ly a trans­former, just like the ones you see on over­head poles, sup­ply­ing under­ground pow­er to homes and busi­ness­es. The box and wiring are designed to pro­tect you from the dan­ger­ous elec­tric­i­ty inside; it’s not a toy. Our linework­ers wear spe­cial pro­tec­tive gear to work on these box­es, called pad­mount trans­form­ers. Beware and stay clear.
• If you see a green box that is open or appears to be dam­aged, please tell an adult, and be sure to stay away.
• If you are a tree climber, you might be at eye lev­el with some of our pow­er lines, or you might even see a branch touch­ing the line. Lines like these car­ry large amounts of elec­tric­i­ty that could fatal­ly harm you. Pick anoth­er tree and nev­er touch an elec­tri­cal line!
• Fly­ing a kite is fun in the sum­mer­time but beware of over­head pow­er lines. Check your sur­round­ings before you unwind and send your kite up in the wind.
• While the grass is green and the sun is shin­ing, many fam­i­lies work in the yard or install a fence. A fam­i­ly mem­ber should always call before dig­ging in the yard. Sim­ply dial 811 to con­nect to PUPS, a free ser­vice to locate all under­ground util­i­ty ser­vices. Be cau­tious of under­ground lines that could harm you if struck by your shov­el.

And don’t for­get your sun­screen!