Georgia Magazine - October 2019 - 14

Currents

SHORTTakes

News from Georgia's electric co-ops *
Compiled by Amy Schneider

ifty-one Georgia teenagers got
a firsthand look at the world of
electric cooperatives during the
Georgia Cooperative Council Youth
Leadership Conference July 15-19 at the
Georgia FFA-FCCLA Center in Covington.
The schedule included a Congressional Insight workshop run by Leann Paradise of the Arlington, Va.-based National
Rural Electric Cooperative Association, a
personality profile session with Monroebased Walton Electric Membership Corp.'s
(EMC's) Jennifer Broun and a field trip to
Walton EMC and the Williams Dairy Farm
in Madison.
Outdoor activities incorporated the
center's challenging low and high ropes
and obstacle/mud courses. Teens heard
Teens who attended the Georgia Cooperative
presentations from council members
Council Youth Leadership Conference tested
Georgia EMC in Tucker, Go Energy
their skills on the obstacle/mud course and
Financial Credit Union in Tucker and
ropes courses at the Georgia FFA-FCCLA
Farm Credit Associations of Georgia.
Center in Covington.
Students chose fellow campers
Colson Jones, sponsored by Flint Energies
(Reynolds), and Stormy Bush, who attended as a 4-H scholarship recipient, to come
back as youth staff next summer. Vienna-based Middle Georgia EMC's Chipper Jones
and the Georgia Cooperative Council's Cindy Greene served as conference staff.
EMCs that sent students to the camp were Altamaha (Lyons), Canoochee (Reidsville), Flint, Irwin (Ocilla), Middle Georgia, Ocmulgee (Eastman), Oconee (Dudley),
Tri-County (Gray) and Walton.

Georgia Magazine

October 2019

COURTESY GRADY EMC
COURTESY GEORGIA COOPERATIVE COUNCIL

Co-op camp
inspires young
leaders

Here comes the sun: Ocilla-based Irwin
EMC officially began producing power
at its cooperative solar field in Ben Hill
County in May. The solar field will produce
about 2.3 million kilowatt-hours of solar
energy per year-enough to power
190 houses. Irwin EMC members may
purchase blocks of energy produced by
the solar array; each block is equivalent to
the energy provided by about five solar
panels.
Aquatic education: Coweta-Fayette EMC
in Palmetto donated Operation Round
Up funds to Chattahoochee Riverkeeper's
West Point Lake Floating Classroom
program in LaGrange. Students aboard
the 42-foot "Miss Sally" experience onthe-water environmental STEM (science,
technology, engineering and mathematics) education. In Operation Round Up,
members opt to round their monthly bills
to the nearest dollar, and the difference
goes into a fund that is used for charitable
causes in the community.

HENRY JACOBS

COURTESY GEORGIA COOPERATIVE COUNCIL

New CEO: Joseph "Joe" Pandy Jr. assumed
the role of president and CEO of Grady
Electric Membership Corp. (EMC) in
Cairo on May 2. Pandy holds a bachelor's
degree in mechanical and aerospace
engineering from the Illinois Institute
of Technology and an MBA from Ohio
University. He has worked for municipal
power companies as well as other
member-owned cooperatives in the
Midwest and Colorado.

Georgia Magazine - October 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - October 2019