In This Section

Cooperatives and Communication

No stranger to hard work, Grant Feldner will clear tree rows and haul hay this summer at home. Feldner will represent Capital on this year's Electric Cooperative Youth Tour.

Feldner shares ideas and earns Youth Tour trip

Grant Feldner doesn't read the newspaper and he doesn't watch the news on TV, except in the mornings when he wants to know the weather projection for baseball practice. Grant is 17, and his lack of interest in the news — and in traditional methods of communication — is an increasing trend among high school students nationwide. So how are they learning about local and national news?

Grant, an upcoming junior at Century High School in Bismarck, says many teens are turning to and learning from social networking sites. Marketing professionals have noticed this trend, and are quickly changing their advertising tactics. Just last month, Newt Gingrich announced plans to run for president on Facebook and Twitter. Immediately after the statement was released, an electronic discussion started in the form of "tweets" and "wall" posts.

Co-ops regularly have important information to share, such as the projected length of a power outage or the status of a rebate program, and staff wanted to know how to best reach and communicate with the co-op's next generation of members. So Capital Electric teamed with the state's 15 other electric distribution cooperatives and asked high school students what forms of communication they prefer. This was done in the form of an essay-writing contest for this year's national Electric Cooperative Youth Tour. Participants who competed answered the following question: "Electric cooperatives are member-owned and controlled. As a member-owner and future decision maker for your cooperative, describe ways in which new technologies and social media can be used to connect and communicate with you and other young adults."

Grant, the son of Capital members Tom and Lisa Feldner, indicates the days of snail-mailing statement stuffers with information are coming to an end, and that social media is the new, easy and fun way to communicate.

"Mailing a hand-written letter was the only form of communication in its day. Now, it is a rare procedure. E-mail replaced the post office for quicker and cheaper communication. Instead of the two- or three-day wait, you only have to wait two or three seconds before your message is delivered to your destination," he wrote.

"Now, modern social networks are to e-mail, as e-mail was to postage-stamp mail. Networks like Twitter and Facebook are becoming offices for on-the-road workers to the average highschool teenager," he concludes.

In his essay, Grant suggests Capital Electric could use Facebook to inform members on electric heat products and services, or about co-op events like the annual meeting. He says it would also present an opportunity for consumers to communicate with the co-op by writing messages on its Facebook wall.

Judges reviewed all of the essays submitted and awarded Grant's with first place, based on his ideas, organization and presentation. As the contest winner, Grant will represent Capital on the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour. From June 11 to 17, Grant will tour Washington, D.C., along with approximately 1,500 other Youth Tour delegates from across the country. While on the all-expense-paid trip compliments of his family's electric co-op, he will learn firsthand more about U.S. government, American history and the cooperative way of doing business. He will also meet North Dakota's congressional delegation and see sights including the U.S. Capitol, Arlington Cemetery, the Smithsonian and Mount Vernon.

Grant, who has never been to Washington, D.C., says he is most interested in visiting the nation's capitol and viewing the House and Senate chambers. While there, he indicates it would be exciting to meet Pres. Obama — although he shrugs and says he's not quite sure what he'd say or ask if they came face to face.

"Even if people think he's doing a bad job, he's still our president. … Fighting against what he is doing isn't going to make it better," Grant says, while sharing his respect for the office.

After the Youth Tour trip, Grant will stay busy this summer playing baseball and doing chores around home. His parents own 50 acres northwest of town, and Grant indicates there are always tree rows to be cleared and hay to be hauled for the family's horses.

The staff at Capital Electric congratulates Grant for taking the initiative to write a compelling essay on communication and for earning the Electric Cooperative Youth Tour trip to Washington, D.C. After he returns, we'll visit with him again and learn what he perceived to be the highlights of this once-in-a-lifetime trip.