In The Classroom, On The Stage, Down The Court

Safe students
SHELBYVILLE
Why don’t birds sitting on electric lines get electrocuted?

Fourth-graders in Shelby, Henry, and Trimble counties know it’s because the birds are not touching a ground circuit, so the electricity flows through the wire rather than the birds. That knowledge is thanks to Shelby Energy Cooperative’s Safety Program. Each year hundreds of students learn to be safe around electricity through co-op programs.

“We think it’s important to share information about safety around electric lines and trees,” says Debbie Martin, president and CEO of Shelby Energy. “If we reach them when they’re young, they keep safety in their mind throughout adulthood.”

Acting the part
McKEE
Haley McCoy, youth services director for Jackson Energy Cooperative, often isn’t herself away from work.

Instead, she is Anna Mac Clarke, the first black Women’s Army Corps officer to command a white unit. McCoy portrays the World War II pioneer in the Kentucky Humanities Council’s Chautauqua program.

McCoy says, “Her story resonated with me, and I was compelled by her courage.”

Donkeys for dollars
HICKMAN
“I never got to shoot a single basket,” says Rex Coffey, of the donkey basketball game he played in to raise money for the Hickman Recreation and Tourism Commission. “I had to get off my donkey and pull him to the right part of the court. By the time we got there, the action was on the other end. Basically all I did was pull my donkey up and down the court.”

Nonetheless, Coffey had a great time. Other employees for Hickman-Fulton Counties Rural Electric Cooperative supported the effort by being spectators.