APES Program Teaches About Cooperative Businesses

In April, Inter-County Energy Jim Jacobus discussed the purpose of a cooperative’s board of directors to American Private Enterprise System students in Mercer County.

The American Private Enterprise Youth Program is developed and coordinated by the Kentucky Council of Cooperatives and the University of Kentucky, College of Agriculture, Agricultural Economics Department. A primary program objective is to provide high school juniors, sometimes seniors, with an appreciation of cooperatives as one of the important forms of doing business in the American enterprise system.

For outstanding young people who excel in this program, the council provides a limited number of all-expense-paid scholarships to attend the Kentucky Youth Seminar each summer, a program developed and conducted jointly by the council and the university. At the Kentucky Youth Seminar, students compete for over $10,000 in scholarships and cash prizes. Participants are invited to share their experiences with council members at special meetings and also in meetings of member cooperatives and other groups.

For questions about this program, please contact Dr. Quentin Tyler, phone: (859) 257-3482 or e-mail: ukapes@lsv.uky.edu.