Participants in this year’s Electric Cooperative Youth Tour tapped as members of the Youth Leadership Council (YLC) returned to Washington, D.C. last week to attend a national leadership workshop. Chetan Singalreddy, a member of EnergyUnited and rising senior at South Iredell High School in Statesville, represented North Carolina.
The purpose of the July visit is to build leadership and public speaking skills, as well as to enhance the delegates’ knowledge of the energy industry and the cooperative form of business.
The group met with leaders of electric cooperatives’ national organizations, including National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation (CFC), National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC), Touchstone Energy Cooperatives and America’s Electric Cooperatives (NRECA). Among NRECA CEO Jim Matheson’s words to the group regarding electric cooperatives were: “It’s not just a business. It’s a movement we are part of.”
YLC delegates will represent their states at NRECA’s 2018 Annual Meeting in Nashville.