Students will research the history of electrification in the state of South Carolina. Each competing group of students (teams of 2-4) will receive a blank hardback book to use as a canvas for writing and illustrating their story. The following steps detail how to participate in this competition.
For more than 75 years, the electric cooperatives in South Carolina have been transforming lives, families and communities with electricity and community support. We want to celebrate that outstanding history with an opportunity for young people to learn what cooperatives are, how they started and how electricity impacts our lives. The electric cooperatives in South Carolina value education and realize students are the problem solvers of the future. Becoming an energy-literate society is essential to overcoming our future energy challenges. Writing a children’s book on the subject allows students to widen their knowledge of our state’s energy past and points them to thinking about the future.
Santee Electric Cooperative interviewed members and employees to celebrate their 75th anniversary in 2015. Discussion includes life before and after electrification.
What was life like before refrigerators? Without electricity, refrigerators were inaccessible to rural South Carolinians. Ms. Helen Martin describes getting electricity and her first refrigerator.
Much of South Carolina was living without electricity in the 1920s. This video is a shorter version of how and why Santee Cooper was created.
Pushing Back the Darkness is the full 27-minute program that discusses the state of SC prior to electrification and the start of Santee Cooper.
For more information on the writing process, click here.
For questions to consider during the writing process, click here.
To learn more about energy, click here.