About Energy Camp

YouthPower Energy Camp is for students enrolled in the 8th grade in our service territory.  The schools include Arnett, Buffalo, Fargo-Gage, Ft. Supply, Laverne, Mooreland, Seiling, Sharon-Mutual, Shattuck, Taloga, Vici and Woodward.

***Students do not need to live in a household served by NWEC to qualify. ALL 8th grade students in the schools listed above qualify.

Northwestern Electric sends up to three students to Energy Camp at Canyon Camp in Hinton, Okla. 

While at camp students will have the chance to climb a utility pole, go up in a bucket truck, and participate in many group activities and leadership workshops. Overall, these eighth-graders get the chance to learn about the cooperative business model, power source generation, transmission and distribution power lines, electrical safety and the history of Oklahoma’s electric cooperatives.

The campers also experience the cooperative business model firsthand by electing a board of directors who then interview and hired a camp manager. The elected directors and camp manager maintain leadership roles during camp operations and act as liaisons between the campers and counselors at times.

Each year campers come home with a whole new set of leadership skills, fun stories to tell and friends from all over the state.

How to Apply

Students who wish to enter must meet the following criteria:

1. Students must be in the 8th grade in NWEC's service territory (homeschooled students at the 8th grade level also qualify).

2. Submit an essay between 250 and 500 words describing how your life would change without electricity. Consider how it would impact your daily activities and your community as a whole. You may also consider what you would miss the most and why.

3. Students will be asked to create a social media post to accompany their application. This post can be on any social media platform you wish (Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, you name it) and the post can be anything you would like as long as it is appropriate and related to your essay submission. Some examples of a post could be something related to your reaction if the power were to go out, or it can be a "what to have in case of an outage" type of post, but feel free to think outside the box! This post does not need to be published, students may attach screenshots of the drafted post for submission with their essay. If students do publish the post, feel free to use the #NWECEnergyCampContest2025. Students can also share links to the post or attach videos as submissions. If for any reason the student does not have access to social media, the student can submit a typed explanation of what they would post and why. (For example: I would write the caption " " and post it with a photo of " " to Facebook because __).

4. Complete the form below, or email the essay, screenshots of the social media post, and student/parent information to nwec@nwecok.org. You can also mail the application to NWEC, 2925 Williams Ave., Woodward, OK 73801.

5. Entry deadline is April 1, 2025.