Former Youth Tour delegate becomes the chaperone
March 2024
Katie Luckett (Photo by Jim Robertson)
by Jim Robertson, Staff Writer
For more than 50 years, high school students have congregated in the nation’s capital for an inspiring week. In 2008, Katie Luckett represented Choptank Electric Cooperative as a student delegate at Youth Tour, a leadership conference for high school students in Washington, D.C. A short 15 years later, she now serves as the co-op’s manager of marketing, communications and education.
Born and raised in Denton, Md., just 4 miles from Choptank Electric’s headquarters, Luckett grew fond of her co-op’s community involvement in local parades, food bank donation days, fairs and more, including sponsorship of her T-ball team when she was 6 years old. “My uncle was a lineman here, so I was very familiar with co-ops and Choptank Electric Cooperative,” says Luckett, who was determined in high school to pursue a career with a focus on writing.
ONE MEMORABLE WEEK
Katie Luckett (far left) poses with two other student delegates in front of the U.S. Capitol during the 2008 Youth Tour. (Photo by Laura Emery)
“My uncle let me know about Youth Tour when I was a junior in high school and encouraged me to participate,” Luckett recalls. Some of her favorite memories from that week include dinner on a Potomac River cruise, meeting elected officials on Capitol Hill, keynote addresses from motivational leaders, and making new friends from all over the U.S.
Luckett’s experience continued after being selected as the Youth Leadership Council delegate for Maryland. During Youth Tour, each state selects one student as its YLC representative. She returned to NRECA’s office in Arlington, Va., that summer and later attended its annual meeting in New Orleans.
I WANT YOUR JOB
After visiting with her guidance counselor about Youth Tour, Luckett met the person in the role she would later fill. Anne Whaples, who served as manager of communications at Choptank Electric and coordinated the co-op’s involvement in Youth Tour.
Luckett remembers talking to Whaples after Youth Tour and saying, “I want your job. When you retire, I want to do what you do for Choptank.” During her senior year at Clemson University, where she studied communications, she was notified that Whaples was retiring and the job was available. The timing wasn’t meant to be — not yet, at least.
THE JOURNEY HOME
Luckett had a desire to leave her home state of Maryland and attend college down south, but says, “I always planned to come back home.”
After gaining valuable experience with a public relations firm in South Carolina, Luckett began her journey back home and worked nearly a decade in communications roles with Maryland Farm Bureau and Horizon Farm Credit, serving rural members on the Eastern Shore.
When the communications role at Choptank Electric became available in 2022, Luckett saw her dream coming true. And it did. “It took me almost 10 years, but I finally got here,” she says.
A STORYTELLER AT HEART
“My mom used to joke that I’d watch a 15-minute episode of ‘Rugrats’ as a kid and take 20 minutes to explain the episode back to her,” Luckett recalls. “I love to tell stories and fill in details and share my perspective.”
Today, she continues telling stories about her community and Choptank Electric members. Part of the cooperative difference is that co-ops are focused on people and improving quality of life. She loves the element of surprise when approaching a story with her own ideas and seeing it take a completely unexpected, and often more interesting, path during the conversation.
Luckett feels fortunate to have received the benefits of being a co-op member growing up, and now she has the ability to educate others and help them take full advantage of the resources available. Those benefits continue as an employee. “Choptank Electric has been supportive in both personal and professional development,” says Luckett. “They encourage our participation in various training opportunities, seminars and webinars.”
One of Luckett’s short-term goals is to focus more effort in educating youth about co-ops. She looks forward to increasing her co-op’s involvement with career fairs, touch-a-truck events, safety demonstrations and other community events. After all, that is what inspired her to pursue her dream.
For more information, visit vmdaec.com/powerfulcareers.