Alanna Walker, Hannah Whetstone and Lydia Woods were among 29 Kansas and Oklahoma student leaders to discover the “KEY” to leadership during the June 21-25 Kansas Electric Youth (KEY) Leadership Conference. Caney Valley Electric selected Walker, Whetstone and Woods from a group of high school students to attend this exclusive virtual conference. Students were asked to complete an application, write a short essay, and review information and complete quizzes on Caney Valley’s history as well as cooperatives in general.
“Caney Valley is proud to support the KEY Leadership Conference and its promotion of leadership skills in our co-op’s youth,” Allen Zadorozny general manager, said. “Our hope is that leadership opportunities like these will provide valuable experience for our local students and help them to further engage in the cooperative community.”
The weeklong conference focused on different pillars of leadership and included sessions about the cooperative business model and cooperative principles, advocacy focusing on the grassroots Co-ops Vote program and how students can be a force for political action, preparing for the transition between high school and higher education, and finally the importance of reputation management.
The speaker lineup featured a discussion with Senator Jerry Moran, who visited openly with the students and answered their questions on topics ranging from foreign grain exports to death tax on inherited land, the pandemic, climate change, and support for military families.
Other speaker highlights included an inspiring message from Survivor’s Holly Hoffman, and a presentation titled Wolves Can’t Fly from keynote speaker Dan Meers, also known as KC Wolf, the Kansas City Chiefs mascot.
For Woods, being a part of the KEY Leadership Conference youth delegation was inspiring, and it motivated her to take a closer look at what it means to be a leader.
“I would tell other youth about the amazing speakers and leaders that helped put this together and what I learned from the speakers,” Woods said.
Whetstone believes the most valuable things she gained from the conference were learning “… about the cooperative business model, new leadership skills, social media responsibility, and my civic duty to vote on election day!”
Walker added that the conference “… was very inspirational and the speakers were very enlightening.”
At the conclusion of the conference, students submitted a short video focused on what leadership means to them. The videos created by the West Elk students can be found on our Facebook page.
In addition to the conference, the students had the opportunity to apply for the Kansas Youth Spokesperson position. Maggie Brull, sponsored by Western Cooperative Electric headquartered in WaKeeney, was named the 2021 Kansas Youth Spokesperson. Brull is scheduled to speak about the KEY Leadership Conference at the Kansas Electric Cooperative Summer Meeting in Overland Park in August.
All students who completed the virtual conference are eligible to apply for both the KEC Auxiliary Scholarship and the NRECA Glenn English Scholarship that are designed for youth program alumni.
For more information about the Caney Valley Electric youth programs, contact our office or check out the information on our website at www.caneyvalley.com.