Flippin' the Switch
Flippin' the Switch
S5 E8: Empowering the Youth in Our Community
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Curious about how cooperative principles can shape the future of our youth? In this episode of Flippin' the Switch, we take you on an enlightening journey with Carson Lee, a rising senior from Jacksonville High School, as well as Caleb Snyder and Corinne Renny, both students from Jones Senior High School. Carson shares heartfelt stories from his time at the North Carolina Cooperative Camp, Caleb reflects on the transformative Washington DC Youth Tour, and Corinne shares the valuable lessons learned during her time as a governer's page. Jones-Onslow EMC is honored to be part of their stories, and we are hopeful for the future of our community! This episode is packed with inspiration and practical takeaways for anyone invested in youth empowerment and community engagement.
Welcome back listeners to another episode of Flippin' the Switch. We are so excited to bring you all a special episode highlighting the youth in our community. Join us as Crystal Phillips interviews Jacksonville High School student Carson Lee and Linda Mathiason interviews Jones Senior High School students Caleb Snyder and Corinne Rennie. They take us through their summer adventures, embarking on a trip to co-op camp, the electric cooperative youth tour and a governor's page. We love seeing the future of our community shine in more ways than one. You won't want to miss this. So with that let's start Flippin' the Switch.
Speaker 2In this portion of Flippin' the Switch, we have the pleasure of having Carson Lee, a rising senior from Jacksonville High School, with us today. Welcome, carson.
Speaker 3Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2We're excited to have you here. Carson has been the inaugural person for our cooperative to attend North Carolina Cooperative Camp, and that's why he's here with us today. So we're going to talk a little bit about it Now. Carson applied for our Washington DC Youth Tour In the years past. We always have four students that go from our service territory and then we have two alternates, and previously they received a gift card. But this year we decided to up the game a little bit and he had the unique opportunity to go to cooperative camp. So we're going to start it off with what kind of inspired you to even apply for Washington?
Speaker 3DC Youth Tour. As many of y'all probably know, I am now the fourth member of my family to apply and win through the Jones-Onzo scholarships. My mom was the first when she was a teenager in Dupin County, ashton was the second one and she actually went to the DC trip. And Catherine, she was supposed to go to DC but because of COVID she got through the virtual floor.
Speaker 2Oh yes, it was a virtual time during COVID years, so she got to zoom in to DC.
Speaker 3Yes, Now me recently I applied just to continue the legacy, see if I can get the scholarship or whatever else.
Speaker 2And it seems like it worked out.
Speaker 3I've loved it.
Speaker 2That's awesome. So when you kind of made that decision to apply, it was a pretty easy process. I think Jacksonville High School has a strong legacy of folks that are winners that come out of that for DC Youth Tour. I think it speaks to just kind of the marketing and all of that. You know the educators are behind the program speaks to just kind of the marketing and all of that. You know the educators are behind the program. But when you got there to cooperative camp, what was that experience like for you?
Speaker 3It was a new experience which I'm a Boy Scout, so I've been to many summer camps, but it was a very nice camp.
Speaker 2Where was it, do you remember?
Speaker 3Camp.
Speaker 2Monroe, so on Mount Laurel, north Carolina. Yeah, I think that camp is pretty big too and it's utilized throughout the summer and probably all year for various camps. So what was one of the highlights from that camp experience for you?
Speaker 3One of the highlights was other than talking to my cabin till late hours of the night with our counselor from Ghana.
Speaker 2Yeah, I heard your mom told me that you had an international counselor.
Speaker 3Yes, we loved him. And then also was our talent show on our Friday night on the last day of camp. That was a great experience.
Speaker 2Okay, now you can't tease us with the talent show and not tell us what you did. So what did you guys do?
Speaker 3All right. So my group we got all the boys from our cabin and the other cabin to do a dance routine.
Speaker 2Oh, I'm sure Is there video evidence of this? Okay, I I'm sure there's video evidence of this.
Speaker 3Okay, I'm going to have to ask your mom. I have the video. I can send it to you later. We did a dance routine. I won the songs, which I did not know the song when I first got there, but I learned it. I loved it. Our group was called C5.
Speaker 2Oh, I love it Like a little boy band from co-op camp. It's pretty cool. Now, what are some of important things you feel like you took away from camp that made?
Speaker 3it special. What did you kind of learn while you were there? I learned that there's a lot more co-ops than I thought there ever was. Like I did not realize that credit units were co-ops, or if Jones-Onzo was at first. I just didn't really understand it.
Speaker 2Just to share with our listeners. Part of what the North Carolina Cooperative Camp does is that you certainly it's a summer camp experience. You get to do all the activities but at the same time, there's a underlying reason why you're there and it's to learn a unique business model which is what the cooperative is.
Speaker 2Yes, there are lots of cooperatives out there that you would have never known Like. Before I started at Jones Onslow, I thought of like a food co-op. You know that was a big one to me, that I knew what that was. But you have no idea that REI is a co-op, yes, which I love. Rei I do too. There are all sorts of things that are out there that are unique to this world. Yes, ma'am, what are some of the things you learned about a co-op that you think makes it unique?
Speaker 3How much one person can help in a co-op, because it's not just like one person has all the shares, controls the company. No, it's everybody. So it's a big leadership group.
Speaker 2That is true and you know Jones-Onsel is founded on seven cooperative principles and you probably learned a bit about that and part of that is that every voice matters. Yes, and so that's a unique co-op principle. Now you've attended camp and you're done with that, but how do you think it's influenced you? And moving forward, like your perspective on co-ops seems like it has really kind of broadened Do you think it's going to stick with you and kind of do community involvement?
Speaker 3It will, cause I've learned a lot from the co-ops and actually I learned to kind of live life to the fullest more because I've met so many new people I've never met before and so many different experiences.
Speaker 2You think those friends that you made at camp you'll stay in touch with?
Speaker 3Yes, I actually have been.
Speaker 2I love it. See, that's what camp's all about. It's kind of like those lifelong memories. And who knows, you may end up at the same college together.
Speaker 3I say, talk to a lot of them. We're all talking about going to NC State or different colleges and go to football games together and just having a lot of fun together.
Speaker 2That's awesome core life memories that we always try to find Now. What advice would you give other students who are considering attending North Carolina co-op camp?
Speaker 3Do it, just sign up and try and do it.
Speaker 2I think that's good advice.
Speaker 3It's worth it. I loved it. I want to go back next year.
Speaker 2Hey, let's see if we can make that happen. That'd be awesome. Maybe you could be a counselor, who knows, maybe. So what do you think the skills and knowledge that you gained at camp kind of will benefit you for the future? Because you're getting ready to go to college in a year, do you think, like, what you garnered during that week you'll kind of carry with you?
Speaker 3Yes, I will.
Speaker 2It seems like you kind of learned stepping out of your comfort zone. Yes, C5 seems like that helped too. It did. Now we've kind of tidbit about like what your plans are after high school. Can you share those with our listeners? What you're hoping to do All?
Speaker 3right. So after I graduate from high school I plan on to attend NC State in the engineering department, probably civil and structural engineering.
Speaker 2He could have a job here at Johns Onslow, who knows? Yeah, stay local.
Speaker 3After I graduate, I either plan to come in here or the Seattle Jacksonville Engineering Department because I've been interning with them over this past school year.
Speaker 2You've got like big plans for yourself, yeah, so you're hoping to be an engineer, and I love that. You want to come back to the community where it all started. We do know that you are a family of legacy, so I think that's unique to you guys. You love where you come from. Now, how do you plan to stay involved with cooperatives in the community as you move forward, like whether it's next year, next few years? How do you want to be more like community oriented?
Speaker 3Well, you know, I'm a Boy Scout, like I said, and I've done community service since I was seven through Scouts.
Speaker 2So it's in your blood. It is, so are you hoping to continue that?
Speaker 3Yes, after I turn 18 in October, I'm going to apply to become an adult in my troop.
Speaker 2You may end up being like a leader within Boy Scouts indefinitely.
Speaker 3Yes.
Speaker 2Well, Carson, it sounds like co-op camp was a win-win.
Speaker 3It was.
Speaker 2And it seems to me that you have a very bright future ahead of yourself. Yes, you're going to do big things, and you're just part of the reason that we do what we do every day. So we really appreciate you being here with us on our podcast and we wish you all the best and go Wolfpack.
Speaker 4Yes.
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Speaker 6For the last 57 years, north Carolina's electric cooperatives have been giving students from 44 states, sharing their diverse backgrounds and perspectives and learning about how co-ops are working together to power a brighter future. And Jones-Onslow sends four students each year, and we have one of our students here this year for our podcast interview, and it's Caleb Snyder. He is from Jones County, so welcome, caleb.
Speaker 7Thank you.
Speaker 6Okay, caleb, can you tell me a little bit about your background? You know where you go to school, what your interests are?
Speaker 7So I go to school at Jones Senior High School. I was born in New Bern, lived in Jones County pretty much my whole life. Dad is Marine Corps. I am a rising senior.
Speaker 6And what are your plans for the future? You plan on staying in Jemez County.
Speaker 7No, I plan on getting out at some point.
Speaker 6Explore your horizons right. So, Caleb, how did you find out about the youth tour?
Speaker 7Somebody came to my school and was talking about it. They came in and they were like hey, I need all of the juniors to come into the library. And she sat there and she talked about it and it really intrigued me. And then I went to biology and I had Mr Patel for biology.
Speaker 6For those of you that know, mr Patel actually was a youth tourist for Jones-Onslow maybe eight years ago or so, and then he went to college and became a teacher at Jones Senior. So he's a big advocate for the youth tour. So that's how that connection with Mr Patel is.
Speaker 7Yeah, I had to do like a little essay for it. It was like a minimum of 500 words or I think we couldn't go any more higher than 500 words. Yeah, that was very, very interesting and very challenging. Do you recall what you wrote?
Speaker 6your essay on.
Speaker 7I believe it was what we would do if we didn't have power or if, like, all the power just suddenly went out, right.
Speaker 6I heard you were pretty excited when Crystal came in to announce that you were the winner, so you were quite surprised.
Speaker 7I was.
Speaker 6Yes, so you didn't think that you would have a chance.
Speaker 7It wasn't that I didn't think I'd have a chance. There was a couple other people that did it too, and I felt like they were going to get it, because you know they were better at writing than I was, because I'm not very good at writing. Writing's not your specialty, yeah. Yeah, it's more like science and stuff like that. My librarian came into my classroom and she was like Caleb, I need to, I need to see you real quick. And she pulled me out of the classroom and we started walking back to the principal's office. I'm in trouble for something I didn't even do. Oh, something bad happened.
Speaker 7So it didn't even cross your mind like what was going to happen, because she said it was going to be like sometime around March time frame that I was going to get the news back if I won.
Speaker 6Right Surprise.
Speaker 7Yeah, oh good, I was in that room, saw everybody and I was like oh man.
Speaker 6It's always great to see the reactions of everybody. What were your expectations going into the trip and how do they compare to your actual experience?
Speaker 7Yeah, I was really excited, but I didn't really know what to expect. I just knew I was going to a big city I'd never been to before. Kind of weird coming from one stoplight town.
Speaker 6Right, one stoplight town and coming into, going to DC.
Speaker 7Yeah.
Speaker 6With 41 other students from North Carolina that you never met before. Yeah, so what were some of your highlights of your time in DC, and were there any memorable moments or experience that stand out?
Washington DC Youth Tour Reflection
Speaker 7I was with a group of guys and we became very good friends. We got to take a picture in front of the White House, which later we found out it was actually the backyard of the White House. It was still the White House. Yeah, it was still the White House. And then we got to see the Lincoln Memorial and a couple other very fascinating things.
Speaker 6So were there any challenges you faced during the trip? Being thrown together with 41 strangers for a week can be challenging.
Speaker 7Yeah, it was very hard to get to know everybody and get to meet everybody and be friends with everybody. It was difficult because you got people from everywhere all over the place and people act differently, like stuff you're not used to get to find where you fit in and I find it interesting.
Speaker 6I like seeing the students when they first get there, the ones that I met. They were always like, oh my God, I'm so nervous, I don't know anybody. And I had to reassure them like everybody's in the same boat. Nobody knows anybody here, trust me, everybody here is nervous. And then by the end of the week, I mean you're interacting with so many different students that you never thought you would have ever interacted with and you become like best friends in the end. Speaking of that, so you mentioned you had a group of guys that you hung out with.
Speaker 6Do you still keep in touch with them?
Speaker 7Some of them yes, Others no, because they're not as active on like social media and stuff like that, because they literally live in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 6Okay, so it's interesting. You got to meet students from all over. I'm not sure if you knew anything about electric cooperatives before you applied for the youth tour and before you went on the youth tour in DC, but did the experience change your perspective on that and the role they play in your community?
Speaker 7Yes, it did. I learned a lot of things that helped me to better understand the importance of electrical co-ops, like how my power lines get fixed so I have power to my house and be able to stay in the AC when it's hot.
Speaker 6A better appreciation right, Something you never thought of before. Can you describe a typical day on the youth tour? I know each day is different, but they are in a sense the same.
Speaker 7Yeah, a lot of walking. It was very hot the whole time, like 90 degree plus weather.
Speaker 6Sometimes you're up at six o'clock in the morning, you're down the lobby at seven o'clock in the morning, you're eating breakfast, you get on the bus and you go. You go all day long and sometimes you're not back until nine, ten o'clock that night. Not a lot of free time to like really goof off and get in trouble.
Speaker 7No, if there was a rule like if you got in some serious, like big trouble, that you would go home, and that's what everybody was scared of. Thankfully, nobody went home. Well, good.
Speaker 6Y'all can't see this, but Caleb has probably I'm saying probably at least 65, 75 pins in front of me, and do you want to tell our listeners what the pins are all about?
Speaker 7Yeah, sure, so each state has a couple of different pins. There's also chaperone pins. I can't remember which state it was, but they have a for students, they have a Great Lakes pin, and then for the chaperones, they have a heart with kind of like a picture of the Great Lakes in it. Too Nice. So I was able to trade with some chaperones.
Speaker 6So you're taking your North Carolina pins and trading them with students from across the US. Yeah, so you have pins from Illinois, north Dakota, hawaii, kansas, maine, michigan, arkansas, oklahoma. I mean all sorts of different pins. I mean these are really, really interesting. So that's kind of a cool way to get to meet students, even if it is on brief, from across the US. All these students here were there for the same purpose the electric cooperative youth tour. Now to visiting the national monuments. The memorials impact you.
Speaker 7There were some war monuments that kind of stuck on with me because I saw some people that had the same last name as me and I later found out I was not related to them, but just that that minor thinking of like hey, these could be my great grandparents.
Speaker 6Yeah, great relatives somewhere down the line, yes, and that was probably like at the World War II Memorial, yeah, and then the Vietnam Memorial is another one. There's a lot of names, yeah, very cool. So spending a week in DC learning about electric cooperatives and just our history and our government did it influence your future goals? Any? Has it been either positive or negative?
Speaker 7A little bit. I kind of solidified the fact that I don't necessarily want to go into a government role like sort of thing like that. I'd rather just work a trade job, tradesman, or join the military or something like that.
Speaker 6So you spend a day on Capitol Hill and you get to either meet with elected officials or their staffers. Did they say, did they talk about anything that influenced your decision to not get into politics, or just did you realize how cumbersome it can be and how time consuming it can be?
Speaker 7Yeah, it was more or less like the time consuming part. I understand trade jobs can be very time consuming, but it's the heaviness of the paperwork. I'm not very good with paperwork.
Speaker 6It's a huge commitment.
Speaker 7Yeah, very huge.
Speaker 6So what was the most surprising thing you learned on the trip? Something like you maybe didn't expect.
Speaker 7There was a lot of people, a lot of people, a lot of people. It really makes you have a different type of appreciation for the electrical co-ops and stuff like that that they service so many people all around the US in different places too. It's just, it's truly amazing.
Speaker 6So did you have one favorite experience while you were there, whether it be a monument, whether it be a museum, whether it be a connection you made with somebody.
Speaker 7Yeah, the Air and Space Museum was pretty cool. I got to see a couple planes that my dad and my grandfather worked on when they were in Afghanistan and Iraq. Got to see like first planes ever made and like different space shuttles, and I'm pretty sure there was like a missile in there too at some point. But it was pretty cool.
Speaker 6What do you think is the most important thing for people to know about electric cooperatives?
Speaker 7Well, there's a lot of them. There's a very vast amount that cover a very large amount of area. They power your house and make sure everything's up and maintenance, Like when we have big storms like hurricanes and stuff like that. They send linemen out to repair the power lines and keep the lights on.
Speaker 6Better appreciation.
Speaker 7Yeah, better appreciation. And they give back to the community by sending students like me and my fellow peers to DC on the youth tour.
Speaker 6And what do you hope to achieve in your future career?
Speaker 7I've thought about it a lot and I'm kind of sticking towards more of like the trade job, like welding and plumbing and concrete and other stuff like that. But the military is definitely still in the picture.
Speaker 6All right, well, good, maybe you'll be able to fly one of those planes that you saw in the Udvari Air and Space Museum. Now one last question, caleb what advice would you give to other high school students who are considering participating, or I should say applying, to the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour?
Speaker 7Do it. It was a very amazing experience and it's truly once in a lifetime. It opened my eyes to a lot of things and made me realize the true appreciation for like electricity in general and the people that help.
Speaker 6All right, well, there we go. Thank you, caleb.
Speaker 7Yep Thank you.
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Speaker 6See all the hassle-free ways to pay and manage your account today at joemccom. Forward slash easy. Our next guest is Corinne Rennie. She is a Jones County resident and she was a governor's page and she is going to tell us a little bit about her experience. So welcome, Corinne.
Speaker 5My name is Corinne Rennie. I'm an upcoming junior at Jones Senior High School.
Speaker 6I'm a member of HOSA, future Health Professionals Okay so how did you come about being a governor's page then?
Speaker 5So I really enjoyed my time as a house page. I wanted to be a governor's page, so I applied for it with the help of Ms Kreese. I applied and like a day later, like I got accepted into it, were you pretty excited, yeah.
Speaker 6So which department did you page with during your time as a North Carolina government's page?
Speaker 5I think it was the Department of Administration. That's where the page office was and where we went every day.
Speaker 6Was there specific projects or tasks that you worked on during the program?
Speaker 5Yeah. So we all had to come up with a project proposal for, like a department that we chose. So, for example, I chose the Department of Health and Human Services, so I had to come up with a proposal. So we'd all present the project after we finished it on the last day. We also had a service project, so it's something that we do for the community around where we live. So for my service project I was thinking about bringing Be the Match into our county. They take your saliva and you can help to save somebody's life if you're like their match. I remember one time this girl at a conference she told us about how she donated her bone marrow to this little boy who needed it through.
Speaker 6Be the Match. Did you get to interact with the governor directly? I did. What was that like?
Speaker 5It was really great. He was super nice and he knew about Jones County.
Speaker 6What inspired you to apply for the North Carolina Governor's Page program?
Speaker 5You know being a House page and I just really enjoyed my time as a House page so I wanted to try the Governor's Page.
Speaker 6What was the difference between being a house page and a governor's page? Like were your duties? The same?
Speaker 5No, they weren't A house page, like yeah, we had a little bit of fun, but it was like a lot more serious, I feel like. And then I got the house page.
Speaker 6it was like A little more laid back. Yeah, yeah, good. So can you share some highlights of your overall experience while you were up in Raleigh?
Speaker 5I actually got to go out on Lake Jordan with my host family. They took me out there on their boat.
Speaker 6So you stayed with the host family while you were up there. I did when you weren't busy being a page. Did you have some free time to?
Speaker 5connect with other pages in the program. I did, yeah, during lunch we actually like split into a couple of groups to hang out, and then sometimes we had free time and we were in the page room. We played Mafia, which is like a fun game and everybody enjoyed it.
Speaker 6So how has this experience influenced your understanding of how government functions?
Speaker 5Just how many people work together to make everything come together and function.
Speaker 6Looking back, what do you consider the most valuable takeaway from your experience?
Speaker 5Getting to meet so many important people who do so much for our state and getting to hear about all the different departments.
Speaker 6What advice would you give to students considering applying to be a governance page?
Speaker 5Bring comfortable shoes, as long as we brought our fancy shoes. And also, if it's hot out, bring like a tiny portable fan.
Speaker 6It's the simple things, yeah, nice Well. Thank you so much, corinne.
Speaker 8Well, folks, that'll do it for this episode of Flipping the Switch Until next time. If you don't currently follow us on Facebook, instagram or any of our other social media channels, consider doing so. It's the best way to keep informed about what's going on with your cooperative. Thanks again.