Thirty students representing nine of the 16 school districts in Indian Electric Cooperative’s service territory spent a half day with employees in October, learning about the co-op and career possibilities.

Shadow Day 2024 was an inaugural event, but IEC has plans to bring it back annually.

“It’s important students in our communities understand there are opportunities in rural Pawnee County, jobs in the energy industry that can provide very well for their futures,” IEC CEO Todd Schroeder said.

The teens, all juniors and seniors, were provided breakfast before splitting into groups according to which careers they had the most interest. They rotated to two different career fields of their choosing, paired up with IEC professionals of the same -- auto mechanics, line work, vegetation management, finance, marketing, customer service, engineering, mapping, drones or dispatch. All students also spent time in a job interview/resume workshop put on by staff before ending the day with pizza for lunch. IEC also awarded prizes by a random drawing to students who attended.

In an anonymous survey, students provided feedback to staff about the event.

“I love seeing all the different corners of the co-operative working together being a team while being able to do their own things it seems like,” one student said.

“I loved how down to earth and how really cool the employees are,” another said. “They seemed really intelligent about what they do and didn’t mind answering our questions.”

Preparing the students for what they could expect at an electric co-op was the goal, and hopefully, some of them will be a part of the local IEC workforce some day.

As one student said, the most impactful part for him was, “being able to learn more about the position I have been looking at for after graduation.”