Educational Programs

Read about all of OEC’s leadership and educational opportunities for youth.

L.E.A.R.N. Program

Youth Tour

Energy Camp

L.E.A.R.N. Curriculum

OEC is committed to equipping the next generation of co-op members to turn knowledge into action, lead with confidence and be dedicated community servants. To that end, we offer an extensive suite of educational and leadership programs. Request additional details and schedule a classroom visit below.

Get Charged

Get Charged is an educational program from OECA hands-on electricity education curriculum tailored to satisfy state education requirements at each level. We have experiments on magnetism, conductivity and insulation, circuits, generator motors, and more. This program can be interdisciplinary and works great in conjunction with math, history, and business classes. Current curriculum is designed for K-5th grade. You can request a Get Charged! Kit for your classroom below. Please allow a three week lead on all requests.

Do Watt’s Wise

Do Watts Wise educational program from OEC in OklahomaWe teach the importance of staying safe around electricity. We will go over indoor and outdoor safety, how electricity works—including generation and fuel sources, and storm safety. During the presentation, students get to handle actual safety gear used by linemen. We will discuss conductors and insulators and identify different materials as such. 

Suplimental safety videos 

Please allow a three-week lead on all requests.

Co-opoly

Teacher presenting at the LEARN program from OECWe present the idea and guiding principles of the cooperative business model. Workshops have a mix of discussion, group work, and interactive elements. Teams must successfully navigate these situations while keeping in mind not only the bottom line but also democratic member control via the board of directors and make decisions affecting members and employees alike. Please allow a three-week lead on all requests.

Co-opoly can be tailored for any age group. It is perfect for business classes, leadership groups, and civic organizations.

Live Line Demonstration

Electrical safety is top priority for OEC employees and top priority for our educational programs. Live Line high voltage lessons are catered to every age group from elementary to professional groups like first responders. We train fire and police departments as well as all ages of school groups on how electricity works concentrating on safety, how fuses work, voltage, and the basics of power line design. We present safe electricity practices with a fully functional and interactive trailer–complete with energy arcs, a hot dog demonstration, and engaging content. All requests are pending weather conditions as inclement weather (and the restoration of power) must take precedence. Please allow a three-week lead on all requests.

Call Daniel Lofland at 405-217-6631 for more information.

Youth Tour

OEC’s best-known and most anticipated youth program adds NEW elements.

The contest is now open for 2024!

Perhaps OEC’s best-known and most anticipated youth program, Youth Tour, is a week-long, all-expenses-paid educational trip to Washington, D.C., in June of each year. OEC annually sponsors four delegates—all juniors—from high schools within its service territory on Youth Tour. Students travel with the Oklahoma delegation (70+ students) to our nation’s capital, where they tour historic sites and national landmarks, meet Oklahoma’s congressional delegation, and more. Youth Tour has earned a reputation as “a trip of a lifetime” among former participants.

  • DEADLINE: December 20, 2023
  • Youth Tour June 14-20, 2024

New Scholarships Up For Grabs

Youth Tour contestants now have even more reasons to get involved. One of them is the Cooperative Youth Ambassador Program’s $5,000 scholarship drawing, which requires participants to engage in activities like attending cooperative sponsored events, promoting OKYT on social media, serving as a High School liaison for future Youth Tours and attending their co-op’s annual meeting. There are also opportunities for bonus entries.

Another scholarship, the OEC Youth Tour scholarship, offers $1,000 (up to $1,500) and can be obtained by participating in the Youth Leadership Council and the Cooperative Youth Ambassador Program.

National Scholarship Available:

The Youth Tour Alumni Scholarship, listed on OEC’s website, offers awards ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 and can be applied for annually. While the deadline for applications is usually in April or May, applicants have the chance to receive this prestigious scholarship every year. To learn more and apply, okcoop.org/sponsorships-scholarships/

Play Video

The OEC Youth Tour Contest consists of three parts (click titles for dropdown details):

Participating in events that benefit our communities is of high priority to OEC. Cooperatives are businesses created by like-minded people to address a common unmet need. Cooperatives come in all shapes and sizes, but they all hold to the seven Cooperative Principles and core values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity. This is what makes the COOPERATIVE DIFFERENCE.

⇒ Imagine you are granted $500 to create a project benefitting your community. How would you utilize the funds? Who would benefit? How? Why is this important to the community? Create a project proposal outlining your project using the sample template as a basis.

Need inspiration: 

DoSomething.org 75 Community Service Project Ideas

Every good cause needs an event to inspire interest and raise money. A community initiative will only succeed if people know and care about it. Let’s promote it!

⇒Imagine a fundraising event for your community project. Create a promotional video for social media. (Max: 2 min/2 MB) 

Good promotional videos include the following:

  • Hit the highlights. Who? What? Where? How? Why?
  • Stay focused. This is not the time to go into great detail about your project’s mission. This is to promote the event to potential attendees and donors.
  • Good audio is essential. Whether you have talking or music, make sure we can hear it clearly.
  • High End or Unedited—there are all kinds of effective promo videos. Use your skills and have fun.
  • Know the required format. Social media platforms often have specific requirements for posting video. For this project, shoot horizontal.

Oklahoma Youth Tour allows students to see how government works up close. During our “Capitol Hill Day,” we walk the halls of Congress, visit with Members of the Oklahoma federal delegation, and tour the U.S. Capitol. Being an informed and active constituent is an important civic duty.

Write a professional letter to an elected official about an issue important to you. This could be the issue surrounding your community project or an unrelated topic.

Elected officials include:

  • local (school board, city council, mayor, etc.), 
  • state (governor, state senators/representatives, state superintendent, etc.)
  • federal (president, U.S. senators/representatives).

Click here to locate elected officials serving your area.

Writing the Letter

While most of us use email or instant messages for our daily communication, formal/professional letters still have an important part to play. Formal, typed-on-actual-paper letters are the most appropriate and effective choice in certain circumstances, like . . .

  • Writing to an elected official or government office
  • Cover letter for a job application
  • Reference letters to colleges
  • Fundraising/Grant requests to people you do not already know
  • Any letter you want an official copy of

Follow this professional letter template. [Click here]

Tips:

  • Keep it brief. Letters should be one page and limited to one issue.
  • Identify yourself as a constituent. Tell your elected official who you are: your school, your city, your district, etc.
  • State your issue up front before going into detail.
  • Hit on up to three of the most important points about the issue.  
  • State why this issue matters to your community. Include a personal story illustrating how this issue impacts you or those close to you. 
  • Remember, your elected official is there to represent you and the other people in the district. Be courteous, but know you have the right and responsibility to communicate your view. Elected officials welcome insight from their constituents, whether they voted for them or not.

OEC will select eight finalists to progress to the Workshop and Banquet portions of the contest. Click the sections below for details.

Saturday, January 6, 2024 | 9 a.m. to noon

Finalists will meet to discuss good presentation habits, interview do and dont’s, and go over all the details of what to expect at the contest banquet. Finalists will have the opportunity to improve upon their entries in preparation for the banquet. 

Thurs., January 25, 2024 | 6 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.*

Dinner will begin at 6 p.m. for finalists, guests, and the OEC Board and staff.

Finalists will make presentations before three independent judges, OEC’s Board of Trustees, staff, and special guests. Presentations will include:

  • Brief description of your community project. 
  • Viewing of your video promotion. 
  • Q & A with the judges about your community project, video, and/or letter to a leader. 

Four of the eight finalists will be chosen as “Youth Tourians” and will go on Oklahoma Youth Tour in June 2024

The other four finalists will attend RYLA (Rotary Youth Leadership Award) Leadership Camp at Goddard Youth Camp in Sulpher, Okla. in June and will be alternates for Youth Tour.

*finalists will arrive early for photos and preparation.

Before submitting your application, check that you meet the following criteria.

  • I am currently a high school junior.
  • I am available to attend the half-day Presentation Workshop (Jan. 6), Contest Banquet (Jan. 25), and Youth Tour (June 2024).
  • I have confirmed my availability with my parents, coaches, church group, club sponsors, and anyone else who makes decisions about my life.
  • I am super excited and can’t wait to win this thing.

Contest updates and reminders will be posted on OEC’s social media accounts and this website.

NRECA Youth Tour website

Contest winners become eligible for the Youth Tour Alumni Scholarship worth up to $10,000 annually. 

Oklahoma Association of Electric Cooperatives (OAEC) Youth Tour page

Direct OEC contest questions to:

Tory Tedder-Loffland

Education & Outreach Programs Director

405-217-6726 | tory@okcoop.org

Energy Camp

The 2024 contest will open January 2024 

A four-day action-packed adventure for eighth-graders, Energy Camp helps develop leadership skills and promotes teamwork while teaching about cooperative enterprises, the rural electrification program, and electrical safety. Each year, OEC sponsors up to four students to the camp at Canyon Camp, near Hinton, Okla. Our next camp is May 30 – June 2, 2023. 

*A nurse is on-site 24-7

Energy Camp offers more than traditional summer camp activities like swimming, hiking, basketball, and a ropes course (although we have those things). Energy Campers also have the unique opportunity to climb a utility pole using line equipment, ride in the basket of a bucket truck, create and run a co-op business, and develop the leadership skills integral to success. They’ll take home a new-found confidence and a host of new friends from all over Oklahoma.

Students currently enrolled in the eighth grade within OEC’s service territory are eligible to compete for a spot at Energy Camp.

Students currently enrolled in eighth grade and attending a school located within OEC’s service territory qualify. Homeschooled students living within the OEC service territory and at the equivalent eighth grade level qualify.

Fill out the online application by clicking Apply Now below. Create an account and follow the instructions. Contact Tory at tory@okcoop.org or 405-217-6726 with questions. 

Short Answer. Answer at least two of the following questions: 

  1. What words would you use to describe a great leader and why?
  2. Describe your leadership style and/or the kind of leader you want to be. 
  3. Tell us about a time you had to make a hard or unpopular decision. 
  4. What is your greatest accomplishment?
  5. What do you wish more people understood about you?
  6. If you were an adult tomorrow and had to make a living, what job do you imaging doing?

Letter of Recommendation. Request a recommendation from a teacher, community member, or other adult who knows you well. (this person must not be a relative) You will enter their email address in the online form. If they do not have an email, enter tory@okcoop.org and let me know. We can make other accommodations.

 
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