Each year Central sponsors two eighth-grade students to attend the Youth Power Energy Camp held at Canyon Camp near Hinton, Oklahoma.  

Energy Camp is a four-day action-packed adventure for eighth-graders that helps develop leadership skills and promotes teamwork while teaching about cooperative enterprises, the rural electrification program and electrical safety. 

While Energy Camp offers many traditional summer camp activities like swimming, hiking and basketball, students also have the unique opportunity to climb a utility pole, ride in a bucket truck and learn about electric cooperatives. They’ll take home newfound confidence and a host of new friends from all over Oklahoma.

To enter, current eighth-graders attending school within Central’s service territory can submit a 400 to 600 word essay addressing the topic: “The need for rural electricity has been established for nearly a century. In the age of technology, why is it important for rural America to have a reliable source of internet.”

Entries are due by 5 p.m. on April 15 and can be submitted at mycentral.coop/youth-programs.