Photo Gallery | SLIDESHOW: Students power up for electric safety

PERRY COUNTY, MO (KFVS) - Third- and fourth-grade students in the Citizens Electric service territory were delighted by two hours of electric safety presentations during CEC’s biennial Children’s Safety Day last week.

Students learned how electricity is delivered to their houses, how to stay safe around electricity and the importance of planting the right tree in the right place. CFL Charlie, Touchstone Energy’s 8-foot mascot resembling a compact fluorescent light bulb (CFL), was on hand to give out hugs and high fives as the students learned how to save energy in their homes.

“It was tough to tell who was having more fun – the students or CEC employees," said CEO Van Robinson. "The main event for most students definitely was being strapped in a bucket truck with a lineman and having their picture taken."

Citizens has been presenting these events since 2000. While it requires months of planning and dozens of employees’ hard work, Children’s Safety Days are definitely worth the effort -- many graduating seniors say they still remember what they learned from the event as youngsters.

This year, about 1,050 students and 150 adults visited CEC’s service centers in Ste. Genevieve (470 attendees) on May 11, Perryville (490 attendees) on May 8 and Altenburg (240 attendees) on May 2.

Students rotated between stations where they witnessed the power of electricity during a live line demonstration, inspected linemen’s personal protective equipment (PPE), watched a lineman climb a pole, listened to a forestry demonstration and were hoisted high into the air during a bucket truck ride. They learned about the life-threatening risks linemen encounter in their jobs and the importance of looking up before carrying ladders outside and before planting trees that may grow into electric lines. In addition, they were told to stay in the car if they are ever involved in a collision involving a utility pole. 

Participating schools included:

• Bloomsdale Elementary
• Ste. Genevieve Elementary
• Valle Catholic Grade School
• St. Agnes Catholic School
• St. Joseph Elementary
• Perryville Elementary
• St. Vincent Elementary
• Immanuel Lutheran Elementary
• Oak Ridge Elementary
• Altenburg Public School
• United in Christ Lutheran School
• North Elementary

Students and chaperones were treated to a pizza lunch and sent back to school with energy-efficient LED nightlights.

Citizens Electric is a not-for-profit utility serving nearly 27,000 members and maintaining more than 3,100 miles of energized lines within its service territory, which consists of all of Ste. Genevieve and Perry counties, the northern portion of Cape Girardeau County and the western part of St. Francois County. At 1.5 billion kilowatt hours sold last year, CEC services the largest power load of any cooperative in Missouri.

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