High school students selected for leadership camp

||| FROM KRISTA BOUCHEY for ORCAS POWER & LIGHT |||

More than 65 students representing electric co-ops from Alaska to Nevada attended the 2022 Co-op Youth Rally at the College of Idaho. The week-long event is a leadership camp and scholarship program for rural electric cooperatives and public utilities.

Four high-school students from the islands represented OPALCO. From Orcas Island High School: August Moore and Valeria Villareal; and from Friday Harbor High: McKenna Clark and Satchel Bourne. Honorable mention to Luke Fincher of Friday Harbor who was accepted into the program but was unable to attend at the last minute.

The students have a jam-packed week of learning, leadership development, teambuilding and summer camp fun. Youth take part in classes about the electric industry, governance structures, business challenges, renewable and electrical generation as well as leadership activities and the opportunity to make connections with peers throughout the region. Each student also gets $1,000 from OPALCO to put toward their post high-school education.

OPALCO’s Nourdine Jensen Cooperative Youth Scholarship Program is supported by the family of Nourdine Jensen, a long time OPALCO board member who was committed to supporting the youth of our island communities in learning about public power providing opportunities to explore outside of San Juan County. Nourdine Jensen served on the OPALCO board for 37 years, from 1965-2008.

Sophomores and Juniors interested in the program may apply at www.opalco.com in early 2023.

Orcas Power & Light Cooperative (OPALCO) is our member-owned cooperative electric utility, serving more than 11,400 members on 20 islands in San Juan County. OPALCO provides electricity that is 97% greenhouse-gas free and is generated predominantly by hydroelectric plants. OPALCO was founded in 1937. 

Picture: The 2022 delegation at the Capital of Idaho included (from left to right) Satchel Bourne, McKenna
Clark, August Moore and Valeria Villareal