If fishing, bonfires and competitive business exercises count for anything, Community Electric Cooperative’s 2026 Youth Program is well under way. Three high schoolers from CEC’s service territory took part in these and other activities in late March at a three-day youth leadership conference hosted by the Virginia Cooperative Council, a not-for-profit association that helps electric, agriculture and commodity cooperatives fulfill their missions. The conference brought together dozens of students from throughout Virginia for instructional and team-building activities at a lodge in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
- Samuel Weatherly, a home-schooled
- Xavier Everette of Nansemond River High School
- Peyton Fowler, a Windsor High School and
- Cole Hewett of Southampton Academy
Weatherly was selected from among his peers to attend another learning event, the Georgia Cooperative Council Youth Leadership Conference, in July. The purpose of that five-day conference, held in Covington, Ga., east of Atlanta, is to build and enhance teen leadership skills and to educate participants on the important role that cooperatives play in the communities they serve.
“I really liked VICE,” Weatherly said after returning home. “I like meeting people, and it was good to work as a team in the simulation operating a co-op.”
Fowler similarly described VICE as a “really good experience.” He also was intrigued by the Day in the Life of a Lineman event held on Feb. 24th since he doesn’t see himself going to college, knows he can earn a good income as a tradesman, and would prefer the varied settings that a lineman’s occupation offers to sitting behind a desk every day.
Day in the Life and the VICE conference are two of the three major events that comprise Community Electric’s Youth Program. The other is Youth Tour, which will take place June 15-19 in and around Washington, D.C. The Day in the Life event this year drew a record-high 28 students from eight different schools. Attendees got to hear directly from CEC’s linemen about the demands and rewards of their work, and to gain first-hand experience climbing utility poles, elevating in utility truck buckets and witnessing a “live line” safety demonstration.
This summer’s Youth Tour, sponsored by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), will include trips to Capitol Hill, Mount Vernon, Arlington National Cemetery and more. Hundreds of youth delegates and chaperones from more than 40 states will attend the Youth Tour. Within Youth Tour, there are various leadership and scholarship opportunities. During last year’s tour, CEC-sponsored student Ava Joyner was chosen by her peers as the Virginia Youth Council delegate. In addition to gaining the unique opportunity to help lead CEC’s Angel Tree charitable event, she participated in NRECA’s major annual conference in mid-March in Nashville.