Introduction
How Students Are Chosen?
Winners
Youth Leadership Conference
Youth Tour Origins

How Students are Chosen

While cooperatives differ in their selection processes, Coosa Valley Electric asks participating students to write an essay. This is the first of a competition that will select the two students who will get to go on the Tour and one alternate.

Teachers at area schools first cull through the essays and chose two to represent their school. CVEC then sends those essays to three independent graders. The graders score the essays, and an average score for each essay is derived from the graders scores.

The students chosen from each then come to CVEC headquarters in early March to compete in two more phases of competition. The students must first take a written exam. The exam is timed and upon completion the students tour the cooperative’s facilities and participate in several educational programs. The final phase of the competition is a panel interview by members of the CVEC Board of Trustees.

The panel interviews can sometimes be the most intimidating portion of the competition because the students often get nervous about the face-to-face nature of the process. Confidence in one’s knowledge about cooperatives and good preparation will ease this process a great deal. Students need just remember, the Trustees are just members of the cooperative like them.

CVEC marketing representatives will contact schools in and around the CVEC service territory early each year to initiate the Youth Tour competition process.

For questions about the Youth Tour program or to find out how your high school junior may compete for these two fantastic trips click here, or call 1-800-273-7210 or 256-362-4180.