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Laurens Electric sponsors Youth Summit participants

Staff Report //April 13, 2018//

Laurens Electric sponsors Youth Summit participants

Staff Report //April 13, 2018//

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Four local high school juniors are the winners of expense paid trips this summer, sponsored by Laurens Electric Cooperative. Three of the students will attend the Washington, D.C. Youth Tour with students from other South Carolina co-ops, where they will join more than 1,400 young people from across the country. The other student is going to Columbia to participate in the Cooperative Youth Summit.

The nation's electric cooperatives sponsor the one-week event in the nation’s capital each June. During their stay in Washington, the students will visit with their representatives and senators and tour sites of historical significance. The students participating are Peyton Crowder of Laurens, Kensley Lothridge of Ware Shoals and Savannah Snyder of Simpsonville.

As the popularity of Washington Youth Tour grew, South Carolina’s electric co-ops decided last year to begin a similar program on a state level, the Cooperative Youth Summit, according to a news release. Allen Davis of Laurens will participate in the summit in Columbia.

Youth Summit students will engage in activities designed to teach them about electric cooperatives and the co-op business model, as well as how state government works, the release said.

All delegates were selected from a group of high school students who completed an application and were interviewed by a panel of judges. Each student will have the chance to compete for a $5,000 college scholarship that will be awarded to one South Carolina tour participant. The scholarship will be granted based on a community service project completed by the student.

 “We support this tour as part of our commitment to the young people in our service area, and to educate high school juniors about American and state history and government, as well as the history and business principles of electric cooperatives,” said David Wasson, Laurens Electric president and CEO, in the release.

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