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High school students from across the state, including Ashlyn Evans and Madelynn Huneycutt from Stanly County, were sponsored by local cooperatives to attend a leadership camp focused on the principles of a cooperative business. The Cooperative Council of North Carolina hosted the five-day overnight camp at Camp Monroe in Laurel Hill.
Campers work, and play, hard all week to learn the importance and benefits of the cooperative movement with hands-on workshops led by cooperative businesses across North Carolina.
Cooperative industries represented at Camp include electricity, telecommunications, food, marketing, insurance, credit unions and agriculture. The cooperatives that personally hosted workshops at Cooperative Leadership Camp include Pee-Dee Electric, AgCarolina Farm Credit, Tilde Language Justice Cooperative, Star Communications and Coastal Federal Credit Union.
Cooperative Leadership Camp, also known as CLC, affords the student attendees the opportunity to work together to create a successful cooperative business, including holding their own Meeting of the Members and producing a commemorative T-shirt.
In addition to cooperative education, campers make connections with peers and co-op mentors while also engaging in camp activities, including zip-lining, kayaking, swimming, paddleboarding, high-ropes climbing and more.
All students who attend Cooperative Leadership Camp are eligible to apply for CCNC’s Jim Graham $1,000 Scholarship during their senior year of high school. This scholarship is offered to a recipient that demonstrates an understanding of the cooperative movement, leadership, extracurricular activities, community involvement and demonstration of self motivation.