AREA YOUTH ATTEND FOUR COUNTY ELECTRIC'S YOUTH LEADERSHIP WEEKEND
Area Youth Attended Four County EMC's Youth Leadership Weekend
Kaylyn Thompson and Sean Bullock were selected Outstanding Female and Male Campers by their peers.
Fifteen area high school juniors attended Four County Electric’s third Youth Leadership Weekend held March 26-28 at the Cape Fear Scout Reservation in Bladen County.
Participating students were: Rollins Wohlford of East Bladen High School; Kaylyn Thompson and Lorenzo Drew of West Bladen High School; LaRhonda Miller and Eric Kea of James Kenan High School; Joseph Weinhofer of Pender Early College; Haley Lanier, Dustin Brown, Robert Rankin, and Kayla Terry of Pender High School; Loren Grossnickle and Brandon Szakasits of Heide Trask High School; Francesca Rourke and Sean Bullock of Topsail High School; and Joya Bland of Union High School.
The purpose of the weekend was to provide high school students an opportunity to learn and develop leadership skills that are vital to their success in life. Also, the students were given the opportunity to learn and understand some of the most important qualities of a leader and were introduced to the cooperative business model.
The high school juniors demonstrated teamwork during their adventure on and off the C.O.P.E. course during the weekend event. C.O.P.E is an acronym for “Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience.” The seven C.O.P.E. goals are teamwork, communication, trust, leadership, decision making, problem solving, and self-esteem. C.O.P.E. includes a series of outdoor challenges, beginning with basic group initiative games and progressing to more complicated low-course and high-course activities. Many of these events involved a group effort, whereas others test individual skills and agility. Participants climb, swing, balance, jump, and rappel as well as think through solutions to a variety of challenges. Many students stepped outside of the box and used creative ideas to solve exercises during the weekend challenges. The students found that they can do much more than they initially thought that they could. Guest speakers came in on Saturday evening and Sunday morning to share team building and leadership techniques with the group.
At the end of the weekend, the students were encouraged to write an essay about their experiences during the weekend. A panel of judges will select two winners that will receive $1,000 scholarships. Winners will receive the scholarships once enrolled in college. Winners will be announced in late May.
The Youth Leadership Weekend is another way that Four County Electric Membership Corporation demonstrates commitment to the communities they serve. Four County EMC serves over 32,000 members in Bladen, Duplin, Pender, Sampson, Columbus and Onslow counties.