NEWS RELEASE
June 17, 2021
SEC Gives Laptops to Area Students
Crewe, VA: A dozen rising high school seniors across Southside Electric Cooperative’s (SEC) 18-county service area will receive new laptop computers this summer through the YouthTECH program. Students had a choice of a Dell personal computer or an Apple MacBook. The laptops have been ordered, and the students will get them at an event in Crewe later this summer.
SEC created YouthTECH after the annual Electric Cooperative Youth Tour to Washington, D.C., was canceled this summer due to continuing concerns about COVID-19.
Selected were Bethany Duncan, Liberty High School in Bedford; Jasmine Harris, Prince Edward County High School; Peyton Coleman, Amelia County High School; Olivia Oen, Jefferson Forest High School in Bedford; Jacob Stallard, Kenston Forest in Nottoway; Julianna Crawford, Rustburg High School in Campbell; Mason Kinne, Prince Edward County High School; William Cousins, Dinwiddie High School; Braden Cliborne, Nottoway High School; Mariah Paras, Cumberland High School; Savannah Maloughney, Dinwiddie High School; and Hans Rehme, Powhatan High School.
“We are pleased to recognize these outstanding students with a new laptop, which will be a wonderful asset as they finish high school and head off in many directions. In today’s digital world, having an electronic device is a necessity,” said Lloyd Lenhart, SEC’s director of community relations. “We were thrilled with the number of well-qualified and accomplished students applying to the YouthTECH program, so much so that we decided to give additional laptops. We were impressed with the students’ classroom success, other involvement in school and the community, and their maturity.”
YouthTECH was open to any 11th-grade student who lives and attends school in one of SEC’s 18 counties. Students’ parents or guardians did not have to receive electricity from SEC.
This was the second year Youth Tour was canceled because of the pandemic. In 2020, SEC provided a cash award to the students who had been selected for Youth Tour before it was canceled.
SEC hopes Youth Tour will resume in 2022. High school students from across America have been going to the nation’s capital as part of Youth Tour for more than 50 years. SEC sponsors eight rising high school seniors each year.
More information about next year’s trip will be available early in 2022 at sec.coop.
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Southside Electric Cooperative, a not-for-profit, member-owned electric distribution company, has more than 57,700 active services across 18 counties in central and southern Virginia. Headquartered in Crewe, SEC has district offices in Altavista, Crewe, Dinwiddie and Powhatan. This institution is an equal opportunity provider and employer.