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Workshop prepares young leaders
Becoming a leader doesn’t just happen. Effective leadership is built on a foundation of skills learned early in life and practiced throughout adulthood.
Electric power associations gave 52 high school juniors from across Mississippi the opportunity to learn some of these leadership skills last month during the 19th annual Youth Leadership Workshop, in Jackson. The three-day workshop combined fun, fellowship, inspiration and education in a program designed to teach the value of becoming a leader in one’s school and community.
These students earned a trip to the workshop by competing in various local competitions and selection processes at their electric power association. Before stepping foot in the workshop, they demonstrated they had the right stuff to become leaders.
Many state officials looked forward to the students’ arrival in Jackson and made plans to meet them. Through the years, they have come to expect excellence from this annual gathering of students, and they welcome the opportunity to encourage their development as leaders.
Gov. Haley Barbour urged the students to develop habits common to all leaders, whether leading the math club or state government. He encouraged them to:
Do the right thing, even if it is not popular or politically advantageous;
Build a reliable, trustworthy team and be honest with team members;
Delegate authority and responsibility to team members;
Give credit to the team for its successes.
Gov. Barbour also encouraged the students to put their leadership abilities to work in Mississippi upon their graduation from college.
The students watched leadership in action when they visited the Senate and House of Representatives in session at the state Capitol.
They also took part in fun team-building activities designed to foster cooperation and innovation in decision-making.
Obviously, the Youth Leadership Workshop is a great program for youth. But what does it have to do with electric power associations? Simply put, local leadership was fundamental to the creation of Mississippi’s 25 consumer-owned electric power associations.
Electric power associations were formed beginning in the mid-1930s by community leaders who realized the potential impact of dependable, affordable electric service on the local economy and its value to local residents. It took a great deal of courage, resourcefulness and tenacity to build electric cooperatives from the ground up as the nation struggled to recover from the Great Depression.
That tradition of local leadership continues today. Electric power associations depend on the wisdom of its member-elected board of directors to set policy for daily operations and to chart its future.
These directors, each one a local leader, see their cooperative’s strong support of the youth leadership development program as one more way to help ensure a better future for all Mississippians.
lopmenprogram as one more way to help ensure a better future for all Mississippians.
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