Local students participate in Cooperative Youth Summit

Youth tour participants pose in front of the state capital
Coop­er­a­tive Youth Tour stu­dent-del­e­gates Roman Phillips, Heather Green­wald and Simon Sir-Elliott Cher­ry.

By Josh P. Crotzer

They may not be old enough to vote, but it’s nev­er too ear­ly for high school stu­dents to learn about polit­i­cal advo­ca­cy and their civic duties.

Three local teens spon­sored by York Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive did just that at Coop­er­a­tive Youth Sum­mit, a four-day tour of the state cap­i­tal and sur­round­ing area.

Simon Sir-Elliot Cher­ry of Indi­an Land High School, Roman Phillips of Fort Mill High School and Heather Green­wald of Indi­an Land High School were among 45 South Car­oli­na stu­dent-del­e­gates that toured the State House, met Gov. Hen­ry McMas­ter and learned about their gov­ern­ment and their coop­er­a­tives. Coop­er­a­tive Youth Sum­mit stu­dents also heard from two state legislators—Rep. Mic­ah Caskey and Rep. Rus­sell Ott.

“That real­ly opened my eyes,” says Sir- Elliott Cher­ry. “We can have a big impact on our future by the choic­es we make. We have the best form of gov­ern­ment in the his­to­ry of mankind, and we have to pro­tect it.”

The stu­dent-del­e­gates also par­tic­i­pat­ed in a mock health­care leg­is­la­tion exer­cise. With three dif­fer­ent pro­pos­als, each side tried to sway votes toward a two-thirds major­i­ty vote to pass the faux leg­is­la­tion. Coop­er­a­tive Youth Sum­mit stu­dents also teamed up to pro­duce their own pod­casts, inter­view­ing leg­is­la­tors and lead­ers in their com­mu­ni­ty on what makes South Car­oli­na a great place to live and ways it can improve.

The stu­dents trav­eled to New­ber­ry Elec­tric Coop­er­a­tive, a vis­it high­light­ed by a lift high in the air in one of the NEC’s buck­et trucks, which are typ­i­cal­ly used in main­te­nance and restora­tion work on util­i­ty poles. They also saw the cooperative’s com­mu­ni­ty solar farm and learned about how the coop­er­a­tive has made high-speed broad­band avail­able to its entire mem­ber­ship.

Stu­dent-del­e­gates also par­tic­i­pat­ed in the Soda Pop Co-op, which sold snacks and bev­er­ages. Some stu­dents served as the cooperative’s board mem­bers. Oth­ers were a part of the man­age­ment team. All stu­dents received cash back as their share of the end of the trip mar­gins. The exer­cise allowed the stu­dents to learn first-hand how the not-for-prof­it co-op busi­ness mod­el works.