Georgia Magazine - April 2017 - 14


NEWS FROM GEORGIA'S ELECTRIC CO-OPS COMPILED BY AMY SCHNEIDER

Students participate in EMC-sponsored wiring competition

BRUCE BAILEY

T

welve FFA students from throughout the state gathered Jan. 14 to
test their electrical wiring and presentation skills at the annual State
FFA/EMC Electrification Career Development Event at the FFA/FCCLA
Center in Covington.
After completing the three different segments of the competition,
Johnson Ngo of the Pelham-based
FFA chapter won with a top combined score of 93.01. Tan Tonge of
the Jefferson-based chapter came
in second with a score of 91.46,
and third place went to Oglethorpe
County FFA's Ethan Thaxton with a
score of 90.37.
The competition, which is
unique to Georgia, provides opportunities for high school students who
are members of FFA to demonstrate
their skills in electrical wiring, critical thinking and communications.
Georgia's electric membership cooperatives (EMCs) sponsor these
career development events to promote education in the safe, efficient
use of electrical energy and give out
more than $7,000 a year in scholarship funds to winners at the area and
state levels.
Each of the 12 participants received a gift, contest certificate and
scholarship, and all of them will be
recognized at the Georgia FFA Con-

From left, Pelham FFA's Johnson Ngo, Jefferson FFA's Tan Tonge and Oglethorpe County
FFA's Ethan Thaxton earned top honors at this year's State FFA/EMC Electrification Career
Development Event.

vention on April 27 at the Macon Centreplex.
Several representatives of Georgia's EMCs helped with the state
contest: Bruce Bailey (Colquitt EMC,
Moultrie); Teresa Callaway (Diverse
Power, Pataula District, Cuthbert);
Bronson Bragdon and Howard Porter
(Excelsior EMC, Metter); David Yelton
(Flint Energies, Reynolds); Monica
Jackson, Nelson McGinnis and Brian
Patton ( Jackson EMC, Jefferson); Nathan Ireland (Mitchell EMC, Camilla);
Randy Hill (Planters EMC, Millen); Justin Franks (Satilla Rural EMC, Alma);
Keith Adams, Ken Ellington and Brent
Meredith (Snapping Shoals EMC, Cov-

ington); Josh Hendricks (Southern
Rivers Energy, Barnesville); and Alex
Doster and Jeff Paul (Walton EMC,
Monroe).
Gale Cutler, Georgia Electric
Membership Corp. (Tucker) public
relations coordinator, and FFA agricultural education staff members Sidney Bell, Kevin Jump, Stan Mitchell,
Jerry Stone and Ira Tucker organized
the event.
Also attending were John "Chip"
Bridges, Georgia Department of Education's director of agriculture education, and Ben Lastly, Georgia FFA
executive secretary.
-Gale Cutler

14

More online at www.georgiamagazine.org

BILL DURDEN

When Jacob Mobley, a senior at Washington County
High School and a member of Boy Scout Troop 74,
decided to create a nesting platform for bald eagles
as his Eagle Scout service project, Sandersvillebased Washington Electric Membership Corp. (EMC)
stepped in to help. Co-op employees set a 50-foot
pole with the nesting platform attached to the top at
the IMERYS Corporate Lands for Learning site near
Lake Franklin, where a bald eagle had been spotted.
Washington EMC employees assisting Mobley,
second from left in the photo, were, from left, Derrick
Waller, power line technician; Jason Mullins, apprentice lineman; and Mike Logue, line foreman.

BILL DURDEN

Friends in high places

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - April 2017
