Cooperative Living September 2021 - 6

A Higher Calling
PowerfulCareers | by Jim Robertson, Staff Writer
1-DAY
Powerful Careers features female day camp
centered on line work
C
onnecting more women with the energy industry
is an important issue for electric cooperatives.
Though women make up about 48% of the
workforce, they account for only 22% of the jobs
in the field, the International Energy Agency says.
One particular area of concern centers on line
work. The numbers of female lineworkers is slowly
increasing, but, by and large, attracting them to the
important work of a line crew remains a challenge.
On Sept. 22, the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware
G
Energy Career Experience
Sept. 22, 2021
ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE TRAINING CENTER,
PALMYRA, VA
which operates a program for prospective
lineworkers will join a variety of associate
members and vendors to enhance the
experience. Campers will learn about electrical
Isafety on the job, including how to climb a utility
Association of Electric Cooperatives, publisher of Cooperative
Living, will host a one-day energy career experience for high
school girls interested or curious about working on a line
crew, in a substation or with advanced metering technology.
The Electric Cooperative Training Center instructors will
lead students through various activities in the classroom
and outdoors at the Association's state-of-the-art facility
in Palmyra, Va. Southside Virginia Community College,
pole safely and how to operate a bucket truck.
Do you know someone interested in learning about
a powerful career in line work? Have her contact us at
powercamp@co-opliving.com with her name, age, high
school, electric cooperative (if any) and a paragraph
or two explaining why she is interested in attending.
While there is no fee to attend, campers will be
responsible for transportation and/or lodging. Entries
must be received by Sept. 8 to qualify. 
ThrowBack
Powering Houses
of Worship
Putting churchgoing in a new light
W
hen Rural Virginia, the
forerunner of Cooperative
Living, started publishing
75 years ago, many of its feature
stories focused on the benefits of
electrification to agriculture and
appliances.
Not so fast, wrote Mrs. R.E. Smith
of Nottoway County. She combed
through a list of Southside Electric
Cooperative members published in
Rural Virginia and found not a single
church, school or public building.
" I know that our church, Ward's
Chapel, is served by the Southside
Electric Cooperative and I have read
4 | Cooperative Living | September 2021
articles in the S.E.C. News and Notes
about the activities in various schools,
churches, and community houses
served by our cooperative, " she said.
That, Smith noted, was a big deal.
Community groups could meet in the
comfort of electric-powered light and
heat, while rural churches became
lighter, cheerier and more attractive.
" By electrifying these buildings, it
has made possible a fuller community
life, " she concluded, asking if the
editors would list schools, churches
and public buildings served by Virginia
electric cooperatives.
In the pre-internet days, it was a
Editor's note:
Observing its
75th anniversary
in 2021, Cooperative
Living is revisiting
some of the stories
it has published
since its start
in 1946.
little more difficult to pull together
that information, so Rural Virginia
confined itself to churches and schools
in SEC country. The list was nothing
short of staggering. Some 160 churches
were SEC members, ranging across its
sprawling service territory from
Petersburg to Altavista. Brookneal had
seven SEC-powered churches to lead
the way. Another 45 schools were SEC
members, including a few church
schools.
And compliments to the questioner.
" We got up this feature because of
what Mrs. R.E. Smith wrote, " the
editors reported. 
co-opliving.com
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http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living September 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living September 2021
