Day 5 - July 18

Day 5 - Friday, July 18, 2014

We started the morning with writing Thank You letters to the Public Power Districts and Electric Cooperatives which sponsored the campers. We wrote a letter to ourselves reminding us of all the fun we had this week. It will be mailed in a year from now.

The 2015 Ambassadors are:

Hannah Smith of Brunswick (North Central PPD)

Ben Dush of Elba (Howard Greeley RPPD)

Sarah Smith of Brunswick (North Central PPD)

The 2014 "Good Eggs" are:

Regyn Hicks of Potter (Highwest Energy)

Garrett Hanisch of St. Paul (Howard Greeley RPPD)

Day 4 - July 17

Chad Johnson, an Energy Education Specialist, led the campers through a "Safe Cracking" session. The campers worked in teams to build a safe to protect an energy pellet that involved an electric circuit and alarms. 

Campers went canoeing or were part of the volleyball tournament in the afternoon. 

In the evening campers attended the banquet and heard speeches from the Ambassador Finalists. The winners will be announced on Friday.

We closed out the night with a dance with Jim Piper Music.

Day 3 - July 16

Day 3 - Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Today was our Tour Day. We rode in chartered buses to NPPD's Gerald Gentleman Station at Sutherland, Neb.

We visited Central Irrigation and Public Power District's hydro plant at Kingsley Dam.

We came back to camp an hour behind schedule for a cookout supper before we held the Talent Show.

Ambassador Finalists 2014

Ambassador Finalists 2014

The Ambassador competition produces Nebraska's three representatives for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association's annual Youth Tour to Washington, D.C. The three Ambassadors receive an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C.

The 10 Finalists were selected from the campers who signed up to give an introduction of themselves. 

They include:

Ben Dush of Elba, Neb. (Howard Greeley Rural PPD)

Austin Koch of Hartington, Neb. (Cedar-Knox PPD)

Eleanor Aufdenkamp of North Platte, Neb. (Dawson PPD)

Taylor Wagner of Lingle, Wyo. (Wyrulec Company)

Broc Mueller of Exeter, Neb. (Perennial PPD)

Sarah Smith of Brunswick, Neb. (North Central PPD)

Hannah Smith of Brunswick, Neb. (North Central PPD) 

Turner Nansel of North Platte, Neb. (Dawson PPD)

Karissa Dickee of Ewing, Neb. (Elkhorn Rural PPD)

Cadrien Livingston of Orchard, Neb. (North Central PPD)

All 10 finalists will give a speech on one of three topics at the banquet on Thursday evening. The top male and female vote getters and the next highest vote getter will be the 2014 Ambassadors.

Day 2 - July 15

Day 2 - Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Hannah Smith of Brunswick (North Central PPD) was selected as the general manager.

Our second day is winding down and it was filled with a lot of activities. We had field demonstrations in the morning with the help of Custer PPD and Nebraska Public Power District. We climbed power poles and took bucket truck rides. We also had a high voltage safety demonstration and played Energy Audit Bingo.

After lunch we heard "The Story Behind The Switch" by Kim Kranz of Basin Electric G&T. 

Part of the group went on a canoe trip down the Middle Loup River and the rest held a volleyball tournament.

After supper we had our Ambassador competition introductions. There were 34 participants - 20 girls and 14 boys. 

We finished off the evening with a camp fire. 

Day 1 - July 14

Day 1 - Monday

The 2014 NREA Youth Energy Camp has begun with 70 campers from all over Nebraska and even a few from Wyoming. 

So far the campers have heard about the various types of careers that are available in the electric industry and what many of the various acronyms stand for. The first night was finished off with the "Get Acquainted Party" with Herb Anderson.

Earlier in the evening each team appointed a member to the Board of Directors. Their first job was to interview applicants for the position of General Manager. The winner will be announced at breakfast tomorrow. 

Board of Directors are Ben Dush, Sarah Meyer, Jared Marquardt, Austin Koch, Sarah Smith, Kaitlyn Maass, Cadrien Livingston, and Eleanor Aufdenkamp.