Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
[00:00:07] Speaker B: Welcome to the Buzz, a podcast by Boone Electra Cooperative. The Buzz is a monthly message to our community celebrating what it means to be a member owner of your local electric cooperative, Boone Electric Cooperative, your co op, our community.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: Happy New Year and welcome back to the Buzz. I'm Zach Smith, one of the communications specialists here at Boone Electric, and today we have a very special guest in the studio to help us kick off 2025. Case Melzer. Welcome to the program.
[00:00:39] Speaker C: Thank you. Thank you for having me.
[00:00:41] Speaker A: Case, you are unique among the guests so far on the show because you aren't an employee of Boone Electric Cooperative or director or even a member of Boone Electric Cooperative. Right. But you've been representing the next generation of cooperative leaders for a few years now, and we're going to get to that in a second. But we have some pleasantries to get out of the way because even though I spent part of a week in Washington D.C. with you a few years ago, we haven't really had the chance to talk about anything much other than cooperatives. So tell everybody listening now who you are, where you're from, what are you doing in Boone's neck of the woods right now.
[00:01:11] Speaker C: All right. Yeah. My name is Case melzer. I'm an 18 year old college freshman here at the University of Missouri. I hail from Harrisonville where I graduated from high school. When I was in high school, I was involved in 4H and FFA and had the privilege of meeting Zach here on the Youth Tour when I attended the summer after my junior year. I grew up on a fifth generation dairy farm, farmed a few thousand acres of row crops and so that's kind of where I get my cooperative background.
[00:01:41] Speaker A: We crossed paths a couple of years ago on Youth Tour and Cycle, a couple of cooperative youth programs, which is what we're going to talk about today. At the time that folks are hearing this episode, Boone Electric has been out in the community and done a few of our night at the ball game events. What we do at those is we talk to local high school students about our youth programs, which includes scholarships, but also Youth Tour and cycle. So I've talked about it a lot. I would rather hear someone who actually went on those trips as a delegate, describe those experiences to people. What do you say to people when they ask you, what is Youth Tour? What is Cycle?
[00:02:15] Speaker C: The way I see it, Youth Tour and Cycle are youth development and leadership programs. They're a form of scholarship in the way that you learn leadership skills and you get different experiences, especially experiences that a lot of kids from rural Missouri that are covered by cooperatives don't typically get, especially kids like me that maybe grew up on a farm or a dairy farm. You don't really get that many days to go travel. And that's kind of what it meant to me. And even this morning I've talked to my friends that I went on a youth tour with. And it's just those programs just have lasting friendships and experiences and memories. And it's also just a really, really good way to educate high school students on what a cooperative is and what it does, especially with the cooperative principal, education, training and information. That's. I think what it really encompasses is that cooperative principle because it really does train the future generation of leaders and tailor them to the cooperative point of view.
[00:03:27] Speaker A: I like hearing your description of that and really quick want to give a shout out to the co op which sponsored you on those two programs, which was Osage Valley Electric, obviously found a very good delegate to send on the program. How did you hear about Youth Tour and Cycle in Harrisonville?
[00:03:44] Speaker C: The first time I ever heard of Youth Tour, I didn't really know what it was, but I had had friends that had attended and told me it was a really good opportunity to meet people and learn new things. And then closer to the application's due date, I started to see advertisements posted by Osage Valley, whether it was through social media or the magazine that they send out to their members.
[00:04:08] Speaker A: You said that you grew up on a fifth generation dairy farm there.
[00:04:11] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: So were you already kind of familiar with what cooperatives were? Did you have a lot of knowledge about them prior to any, any involvement with Youth Tour Cycle?
[00:04:21] Speaker C: Yeah, actually. So I'm kind of unique in that aspect as to where I had a really big passion for cooperatives before I even applied. You know, just growing up on a dairy farm, there's not a lot of things that a dairy farmer can do without the help of all the cooperatives that they may they might use. Through my involvement in ffa, I wrote a six to eight minute prepared speech about how cooperatives impact my family. I took examples of cooperatives that my family utilized through our almost 90 years of dairy farming in Harrisonville. I took away that each of them use a different cooperative principle. I talked about how if we just didn't have one of those principles, one of those cooperatives, we wouldn't have a dairy business because we get our feed from a cooperative like mfa and that feed produces milk that we can then sell to DFA Dairy Farmers of America. And then we need cooperatives like FCS Financial for crop insurance to grow crops to feed our cattle. We need MFA oil to fill up our tractors. We need Osage Valley to light up our milk barn to keep our houses heated and with the lights on. And so that gave me a really, really good reason to learn more about cooperatives when I was competing in that contest. And it gave me a really big passion for it because I really realized the importance of it. And I don't think a lot of high school kids get that inside knowledge and do that research and realize that cooperatives really are everywhere, even if you don't see them. And so, yeah, I was a little bit unique in that aspect to where I had a really big background in cooperatives. I had a lot of knowledge going into the youth tour. I did a semester long dual credit college class on the history of cooperatives and what they do in our society before I went on youth tour. So I had a pretty good running knowledge.
[00:06:12] Speaker A: I would agree that you are definitely unique in that aspect. Was that something that your family talked a lot about? Obviously it's a family business, so there's obviously a lot of familiarity with all those different cooperatives you listed. And I appreciate you connecting the dots there because we talked about very early on in the podcast how there are all kinds of different cooperatives for all kinds of different things. And until somebody who's lived in that world really spells out how it's all interrelated, I don't think we think of.
[00:06:42] Speaker C: That a lot of the time. Yeah, for sure. And it's definitely something that I didn't think about until putting a pen to the paper and writing this speech. I realized that every single action that we take on the farm is involved with some cooperative. And that's just another cooperative principle, the cooperation among cooperatives, because without one, you don't have any of them.
[00:07:03] Speaker A: So the first day of youth tour and cycle, both programs, basically you're thrust into this ballroom with a hundred other kids from around the state, some of whom you've probably. Most of whom you've probably never met. I would say, what is that experience like for the first time, just being around all those new faces? Are you nervous? Are you the type of guy who starts making friends right away?
[00:07:22] Speaker C: I'm from a family that just doesn't know a stranger. So on the first day I had a. I'd say a good five, ten friends that I had known from prior experiences. But by the end of the first night, at the end of our orientation that we had in the hotel, I Had already started a group chat with a lot of the delegates. I think there was like 75 of us in this group chat. And this group chat was made before we even left Columbia. And so I don't really. I didn't really think it was that nerve wracking. There was nobody that I couldn't talk to. Everyone was kind. Everyone just was excited to be there. And we really got along super well. It definitely stayed that way for the entire trip. It was really hard to say goodbye to a lot of those people at the end of that week. And these are still people that I talk to daily. I texted the group chat this morning.
[00:08:13] Speaker A: So obviously you haven't had to say goodbye to him yet.
[00:08:15] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:08:16] Speaker A: I think that's one of the.
After years of working close to that program, I feel pretty confident saying, I think that's one of those goals that the whole experience wants to leave delegates who have been on it with that you guys have a network of people. You all went through that experience together and you guys are still talking today.
[00:08:35] Speaker C: So that's absolutely great.
[00:08:36] Speaker A: That's a perfect outcome. So, yeah, for some people, like we mentioned, not necessarily your case, it's their first experience with electric cooperatives. The cooperative business model in general. Was there anything that stood out to you as new or different about that experience or that you learned on either of those trips? Anything that kind of shaped your decisions about college or what you want to do after college?
[00:08:57] Speaker C: One thing that immediately jumps out to me when you ask that question is, you know, I had always known what electric cooperatives were, what they did, but I didn't really know what they did on the next level. One of the nights of cycle, we had a presenter that came and did a presentation on different forms of energy that electric cooperatives are starting to utilize around the country. And that was really eye opening to me because that's just something that I never thought about. All I thought about when I thought of an electric cooperative was a business that kept the lights on. That was something that I had never thought about, I'd never learned about. And so that's like what really jumps out to me is you get like even somebody like me that has a pretty good running knowledge on cooperatives. There's always something to learn with programs like these. That's just a small example, but I can think of a whole bunch of things I learned.
[00:09:46] Speaker A: And you guys do a lot of different stuff even within just one of those programs. And doing two of them back to back in the same summer. There's a lot even More to choose from. Was there anything that you, you know, stood out to you as a. I don't want to say something as simple as a favorite part, but I mean, you get to go everywhere from debating a bill on the floor of the Missouri House of Representatives to being in Washington D.C. walking the halls where, you know, laws are made and debated all the time. Does anything, anything stand out to you from either of those trips? That was just like a once in a lifetime or trip of a lifetime moment, as we always talk about.
[00:10:21] Speaker C: For a youth tour, I'd say the entire week was my favorite part. There's, I mean, you see everything that there is to see in Washington D.C. you see Congress in session. You see the Mount Vernon where George Washington lived, which is surreal. You see Arlington National Cemetery, you see all of the historic statues and monuments. You get to do it with all of your new best friends. And there's just, it's really, really hard to pick a favorite part out of that trip. It was just, it was so surreal. It was. You were never stopped and you're never bored. You're just constantly going. And I think that was my favorite part because there's so much to see in Washington D.C. and it keeps you on your toes, it keeps you learning. And then with cycle, same, same story. But the parts that really stand out to me were just the hands on aspect to it. It felt a little bit more hands on than youth tour because we were doing activities and it felt like we really got to learn more about each other and we got to get a little bit closer and hang out just a little bit more at the hotel. And then obviously the debating a bill on the House floor is something that I still talk about to people to this day. That was awesome. I was fortunate to be the leader of my party and I got to argue the bill. So people were standing up and debating me for the bill and I ended up getting it to pass.
That was just an awesome experience. Being on the, on the Capitol floor.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: I was going through some photos from both of those trips today, and the one of you guys all debating in the House is a pretty good one. Everybody's smiling. It's usually a pretty fun time watching the hands fly up and people's reactions to things that people are saying. But then you guys also, like you said, there's so much more team building involved and things of that nature on cycle. You guys work together on a lot of different projects. One of the first things you get thrust into with a group of those new best friends is building your Own cooperative and describing everybody how it works.
[00:12:22] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: How are you staying involved in cooperatives today?
[00:12:25] Speaker C: I find ways to stay involved, like on campus. I just stay involved in clubs and keep myself busy. I'm in a fraternity on campus, but with cooperatives, I'm fortunate enough to have a grandpa and a great uncle that are sitting currently on boards of directors for different agricultural cooperatives. Both of those are either based in Columbia or Jeff City. And so I have the opportunity to go sit on their meetings sometimes. And so that keeps me updated on things going on within agriculture and the cooperative world. But those are just small ways that I can stay involved and then still staying involved by going home and working on the farm every weekend. That's still being involved in a cooperative in a roundabout way. But I try my best to stay busy and keep learning new things every day.
[00:13:17] Speaker A: Well, and you were just. The reason you're here today is you were just in the building a couple months ago here for a tour. Can you tell us a little bit about that, what that was for as far as school goes?
[00:13:26] Speaker C: Yeah. So in my intro to ag business class, we had the opportunity to come tour the headquarters here, had a full tour of the facility. And that was really cool because a lot of those people in that class, they know what cooperatives are, but maybe not electric cooperatives because it's all like business kids.
So seeing, you know, the trucks and all of the. In like the war room and seeing all the insides to an electric cooperative, I think is a really valuable experience for college students. I think just educating the future generation about cooperatives is super important.
[00:14:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Not just in terms of being electric cooperative members themselves. Hopefully one day, if they stay in an area where they're served by one, but also careers. I mean, again, I didn't ever think of anything other than the lineman before I worked at a cooperative. And then once you get inside of it and see one, you really see how many different careers and different backgrounds it takes to run just one cooperative, let alone any of them.
[00:14:31] Speaker C: So, yeah, for sure. It's just like any. It's just like agriculture. I mean, you just think a lot of people, when you say agriculture, they just think of a farmer. They don't think of the geneticist or, you know, the alignment. I mean, everybody has a way as a place within agriculture and everybody has a place within a cooperative. There's accountants and there's linemen and there's communications directors. There's. I mean, there's so many different opportunities within not only electric cooperatives, but cooperatives.
[00:14:58] Speaker A: In general, your experience with Youth Tour and cycle, first of all, did anything about those experiences inform your decisions about what you wanted to do in college, about what you wanted to do after college, solidify the path you were already on? Maybe.
[00:15:13] Speaker C: Yeah, I think so. I've always, for the good part of my high school career, I had kind of known that I wanted to major in ag business.
But going on the youth tour and seeing Washington D.C. and sitting on the House floor and watching bills be debated and watching an actual session take place, I can say that Youth Tour gave me kind of the motivation to double major in political science, just because it's just such a cool city and there's so much going on. And all of the decisions that affect us back here, back home in Missouri and on the farm and in rural communities, those decisions are being made in Washington, D.C. and I think it's important to have people that realize that and that care about rural life and Missouri life. I think it's important to have people like that at the Capitol. And so that's kind of what gave me the motivation and inspired me to add that political science degree onto my college experience. Just because I. I think I could be that voice for agriculture in Missouri one day. And so that's kind of. I think Youth two are definitely put me on the political science path.
[00:16:24] Speaker A: That's awesome to hear. Don't give up on that. Don't. Don't lose sight of that dream. And not just double majoring. You mentioned to me earlier you are also double minoring, correct?
[00:16:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:34] Speaker A: In what?
[00:16:35] Speaker C: So I'm double minoring in accounting as well as law.
[00:16:38] Speaker A: Okay. So is there anything you don't want to do while you're in college?
[00:16:42] Speaker C: Yeah, math.
[00:16:44] Speaker A: Good luck with that, with the accounting minor.
[00:16:46] Speaker C: Really?
[00:16:47] Speaker A: So if you were talking to underclassmen, people you know back at Harrisonville, or people around Columbia who are in that age bracket where they're going to be able to apply for Cycler Youth Tour if they wanted to. What would you tell them about that experience? What would be the thing that stands out to you that would say, hey, you guys might want to look into this. It would be a good experience for you?
[00:17:09] Speaker C: I have back home talked to a few people that I'm close to and encourage them to submit the application. What I think is really the selling point is just it's such an incredible opportunity to see our nation's capital. It was my first time going to Washington, D.C. it was just such a great way to see everything that Washington D.C. has to offer. Sure. You can Travel there with your family, but it's really hard to get out and see every single thing in the span of a week. And that's what youth Tour, I think, is really unique.
And the fact that it just has like a. You just sit on a charter bus, and it brings you everywhere. You don't have to worry about transportation. You don't have to worry about lodging. It covers everything. Because they see the importance in showing youth, high school students from around the state to see the nation's capital and see all the history behind our country. And I think that's really the selling point is just. It's truly an invaluable experience, and it's something that you don't get every day. I think they'd be silly not to apply.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: And like you said earlier, I mean, it's one thing to just go there on a family trip or a small school trip or something, but going there with all those people, 103 other friends.
[00:18:24] Speaker C: From Missouri, that's incredible. Thousands of people from across the United States. It's super cool too be around so many people from other parts of the country that, you know, have different ways of life that just there's always something that you can talk to about somebody and learn something new. And that brings me to another part that we haven't talked about, is the pin trading that goes down on the youth tour.
[00:18:48] Speaker A: Tell people at home what the pin trading is all about.
[00:18:52] Speaker C: So when we. When we leave Colombia, we are supplied with, I'd say, 25, 30 pins of Missouri, like, cooperative Youth Tour. And we're told to find people from other states that also have their unique state pins. And we trade Missouri pins for their respective state. And you have people that take it really, really seriously and spend the entire week getting pins. And they have pins all around their lanyard and all over their name tag. And then you have people that really only trade for the pins that they really want, states that they visited, states that are pins that maybe just look really cool, but it really makes you go and have conversations with people, and it's a conversation starter, and you ask for their pin, you trade with each other, and then next thing you know, you're talking about each other's dogs and what you do for fun and what your favorite food is, and it's just a really good way to make those friends.
But as the week went on, we realized that there were so many kids from Missouri that the market kind of got flooded and nobody really wanted Missouri pins anymore. But it was still a conversation starter because you went up to them and then got denied. But you still had the opportunity to have a conversation with them.
[00:20:09] Speaker A: Yeah, you go out there with 103 kids and the Missouri pins and Texas and some of the bigger states, you know, they go around pretty quickly, and then everybody's suddenly trying to hunt for the, you know, a couple kids from Hawaii.
[00:20:22] Speaker C: Your Hawaii, your Wyoming pins.
[00:20:24] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:20:24] Speaker C: Yeah. But it's just a testament to the work that we do here in Missouri, having that many kids interested in learning about cooperatives. And we're one of the biggest states at the Youth Tour, and we are nowhere near the size of the states that we're competing with at Youth Tour. And I think that's just really impressive as a state and as an organization.
[00:20:43] Speaker A: There's another thing that they do on Youth Tour may get the name wrong. I believe it's Youth Night. They have had to divide it, I think, in years past because they don't have the capacity for everybody in there. But it's always interesting to me because, yeah, some of those huge programs, Texas, Tennessee is another one, you know, that'll have hundreds of kids there. And then Missouri 103, not too shabby. But when you hear everybody kind of yelling out whenever their state's called at that Youth Night thing, and the Missouri kids are just as loud as those two states and louder than a lot of the other ones, it makes a big impression. There's a lot of support for it here in the state from all the cooperatives. So if you are a student or, you know, a student out there who's interested in Cycle Youth Tour or applying for a scholarship to help with furthering education, please check us out online. Boonelectric Co Op. Give us a call or just stop by the office here in Columbia. We'd love to tell you whatever you need to know about the application process or those experiences themselves. If Case hasn't sold you enough on it already, and the deadlines are approaching, so. January 31st for our scholarships for seniors. February 28th for cycle and Youth Tour. Case, thank you for joining us today on the program.
[00:21:50] Speaker C: Thank you for having me and thank.
[00:21:51] Speaker A: You for tuning into this episode of the Buzz. Be sure to join us next month for another special episode of the podcast. And until then, we'll see you somewhere down the line.
[00:22:01] Speaker B: Thank you for tuning in to the Buzz, a podcast by Boone Electric Cooperative. To subscribe or for more information, you can find us on Facebook, Instagram X and LinkedIn. And of course, you can always visit us 247 at Boonelectric Coop. Boone Electric Cooperative your co op, our community.
