Conway, SC – An Adventure with Electricity, by Brooke Ann Brown, was selected as the statewide winner of the 2022 Children’s Book Challenge, sponsored by EnlightenSC™ —an educational initiative of the state’s independent, consumer-owned electric cooperatives. The competition challenges fourth- and fifth-grade students to write and illustrate stories that focus on the impact of electricity in their lives, communities, and the state.
Brown, a fourth grader, was surprised during a live video conference on April 8. She is a homeschool student in Aynor. In addition to being surprised as the statewide winner, Brown also learned she was receiving a $500 cash prize for her work.
“The judges were impressed with the quality of both the story and illustrations Brooke Ann created for her book,” said Toni Gore of Horry Electric Cooperative, Brown’s local co-op. “She put a tremendous amount of work into the project, and it really shows.”
Brown’s book tells the story of a lightning bug named Sparkie who teaches a young girl about how electricity works in her home. The book will be published and distributed to elementary schools throughout the state.
South Carolina’s electric cooperatives have been committed to powering rural communities since 1938. This concern for communities, and the future of our youth, has carried forward to today. By inspiring students to learn more about energy in our state, S.C.’s electric co-ops hope to spark a passion for critical thinking in the minds of tomorrow’s leaders.
A recorded video of the surprise announcement is available here: https://bit.ly/3xlpor
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The Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Inc. is the state association of independent, member-owned electric cooperatives. More than 1.5 million South Carolinians in all 46 counties use power provided by electric cooperatives. Together, the co-ops operate the state’s largest electric power system with more than 70,000 miles of power lines across 70 percent of the state. More information is available at www.ecsc.org.
EnlightenSC is an energy-education program developed by educators for South Carolina’s consumer-owned electric cooperatives. The electric cooperatives created EnlightenSC to help teachers access energy-related training, activities, and resources for their classrooms and to provide opportunities for young people to learn and get excited about science, technology, engineering and mathematics.