Today In Mississippi

Our Youth Leadership Program
identifies, nurtures future leaders

By Michael Callahan
Electric Power Associations of Mississippi Executive Vice President/CEO

Take another look at faces on the cover of this issue. You may see some of them again in the years to come.

They may hold political office, become successful professionals or start their own business. They’ll be deacons, volunteers, role models and civic leaders.

Whatever the future holds for them, I feel confident they will succeed. And I’m thrilled that Mississippi’s electric power associations will have played a role in their success by providing opportunities for personal development through our Youth Leadership Program.

There are two annual components to the program, which is aimed at high school juniors: a three-day Youth Leadership Workshop, held in Jackson, and the week-long National Rural Electric Cooperative Youth Tour, in Washington, D.C.

Our leadership program, now in its 21st year, has become an incubator for tomorrow’s leaders. It provides the means for electric power associations to identify and nurture young people who demonstrate the ability (and desire) to assume authoritative roles in their schools, churches and communities.

To cite some examples, past Youth Leadership participants include:

—one candidate for the state Senate and two candidates for the state House of Representatives in this year’s election

—a prominent Jackson attorney

—a doctoral researcher at Mississippi State University

Our Youth Leadership program began in 1986 with one student representative to the Washington Youth Tour. Electric power associations quickly realized the program’s potential for rural youth, some of whom would never get an opportunity to visit the state capital, let alone the nation’s. Through the years, the program grew in numbers and scope as more electric power associations signed on.

In June, 19 electric power associations sent 46 students to the Youth Tour, our largest group ever. Each student earned the all-expenses-paid trip through a local competitive process sponsored by his or her electric power association.

The tour attracts some 1,500 high school juniors representing electric cooperatives across the country.
A highlight of our leadership program is the selection of Mississippi’s representative to the national Youth Leadership Council (YLC). In the history of the program, two of our past YLC representatives—Moriah Mozingo and Kent Ford—successfully competed against students from 40 other states to become the national YLC spokesperson. Two other Mississippi students have been named runners-up.

Moriah is now an international financial consultant and Kent is a student at the University of Mississippi. They, like many of our Youth Leadership students, are rising to assume their role among Mississippi’s new generation of leaders.

We’re proud to have been a part of their success stories.

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Electric Power Associations of Mississippi
P.O. Box 3300 Ridgeland, Mississippi 39158-3300 phone 601.605.8600 fax 601.605.8601