Whitney Counts and Will Harbin, both juniors at Lincoln County High School, were among 44 high school juniors representing 22 electric cooperatives across the state who attended the Tennessee Electric Cooperative Association's annual Youth Leadership Summit March 16-18 in downtown Nashville. Fayetteville Public Utilities' Chuck Barnes accompanied Counts and Harbin as an adult advisor for the Summit.

"The annual summit teaches students about the important roles of electric utilities in Tennessee's rural communities and provides an opportunity to see, in person, the legislative process in the Tennessee Capitol," said Joe Jackson, TECA director of youth and member relations.

"We had another excellent group of outstanding students attend the summit this year," Jackson said. "It's no surprise, really, considering the highly competitive and selective process they undergo to earn a spot on the trip. Local electric cooperatives, along with school officials and guidance counselors, chose these students based on their interest in government and their leadership abilities."

Hosted by TECA, the summit is sponsored by the rural electric utilities of Tennessee including Fayetteville Public Utilities. The event is funded in part by the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corporation, a not-for-profit cooperative financing institute that provides an independent source of financing to member cooperatives nationwide, the 2009 summit's theme was "Leadership Rocks."

"The Youth Leadership Summit is an annual event that gives our youth a chance to learn about their state government and enhance their leadership skills," says Britt Dye, FPU's CEO and general manager. "It is encouraging to see such motivated students in our service area. These young people will one day be the leaders of our communities, and we are privileged to provide them with this opportunity to join their peers from across Tennessee to learn about state government and rural electric systems."

The summit kicked off Monday evening, March 16, with dinner at the group's hotel, the Millennium Maxwell House. Get-acquainted and leadership-development activities followed, led by cooperative employees and special guests, including 2008 Miss Tennessee Ellen Carrington and Tennessee Titans cheerleaders Lindsey Roznovsky and Melissa Hodges.

Students rose early on Tuesday, March 17, for breakfast and preparations for a visit to Legislative Plaza where they would meet their state legislators and sit in on House and Senate committee meetings. Amy Gallimore, director of leadership with TRI Leadership Resources LLC, gave an excellent presentation on leadership before TECA Director of Government Affairs David Callis introduced State Rep. Phillip Johnson of Pegram, who welcomed the students to Tennessee's capital and discussed the legislative process with them. Callis then explained current bills affecting electric utilities and described what everyone should expect from the legislative committees they were to visit.

The students then took a tour of the State Capitol and moved on to Legislative Plaza, seeing state government in action and posing for photos in front of the historic Capitol.

Following the visit to Capitol Hill, the group enjoyed lunch and leadership activities at a Nashville-area YMCA camp. After dinner, students were treated to a tour of Nashville before returning to the hotel for a special competition playing on the summit's 2009 theme - a virtual "battle of the bands" featuring the interactive "Rock Band" video game. Finally, the busy day was capped off with an ice cream social.

Wednesday morning, the students learned more about Tennessee's electric cooperatives and rural power systems. The vital role utilities play in the communities they serve was emphasized through activities in which students formed their own co-ops, making decisions on such important topics as rights-of-way maintenance, bill disputes and power outages. Later, they put it all together, answering trivia questions about electric cooperatives and the state in the "Energy Battle" competition.

"We offer these educational experiences for our students - our future customers - because we want them to understand what makes a utility like FPU special," says Dye. "We want them to be able to appreciate their local utilities and understand why it was so important to have hometown service," he says.

Whitney Counts is the daughter of Kenneth and Jerusha Counts of Fayetteville, TN, and Will Harbin is the son of Ken and Beverly Gullatt of Flintville, TN.