4-County Students Win Top Honors

JACKSON, Miss. (PRESS RELEASE) — 4-County 2016 Youth Tour delegates Jack Vandevender and Reid Stevens took home top honors following the Electric Power Associations of Mississippi Youth Leadership Workshop, Feb. 24-26, in Jackson.

   JACK VANDEVENDER W/ RON STEWART

Jack, a junior from Central Academy in Macon, won the highest honor at the workshop – a spot as Mississippi’s representative on the NRECA Youth Leadership Council.

The Shuqualak resident received a trophy and also won a $1,000 scholarship. He will represent 4-County at conferences in Washington, D.C., San Diego, Calif., and Biloxi.

Reid, a junior at Starkville Academy, won one of two Leadership Awards at the conference.

   JACK, REID, GEORGIA W/ REP. MICKENS

He received a trophy and also won a $500 scholarship.

Georgia Sisson, a junior at East Webster High School, was also a noted participant in the program.

She is from Maben.

Seventy-eight high school juniors participated in the program, a record number for the 30th annual workshop, representing cooperatives from around the state.

Workshop participants met with their state legislators, visited the Mississippi Capitol and also participated in team-building exercises and games aimed at improving their leadership skills.

Motivational speaker Eddie Tanner of Madison engaged the students with a variety of team-building exercises.

Instructors from Elyon Outreach Ministries, a learning center in Ellisville based on developing teamwork skills, also worked with the youth.

Their activities involved dividing the young leaders into teams and challenging each team to combine its talents to solve a problem.

Terry Rhodes, a motivational speaker and pastor, encouraged the youth to follow the right paths in life, relying on faith in God, Jesus Christ, the Holy Bible, perseverance and a good work ethic as guideposts.

VanDevender said the workshop experience was the experience of a lifetime.

“I couldn’t anticipate how much fun it would be, and didn’t realize how closely I would become bonded with students who were complete strangers to me prior to the event. It didn’t matter what we were doing, from listening to fantastic speakers to doing leadership exercises in groups. It was one of the best experiences I have ever had,” he said.

“Every student was a solid competitor who had accomplished so much early in life. To hear my name called out for the first place award was phenomenal.”

Following completion of the Jackson program, the 4-County youth were presented certificates of achievement.

Jack, Reid and Georgia will travel to Washington, D.C., for NRECA’s Youth Tour of the Capital, June 11-17.