Get to know our Learning Through Art contest winners

Art across the ages

YEC knows sup­port­ing young artists’ cre­ativ­i­ty encour­ages crit­i­cal think­ing, prob­lem-solv­ing and inno­va­tion, while also help­ing them learn resilience, adapt­abil­i­ty and the abil­i­ty to approach chal­lenges with opti­mism. These skills and qual­i­ties are essen­tial in all aspects of life, but most impor­tant­ly, in ensur­ing we have a resilient and vibrant com­mu­ni­ty for years to come. We’re more than just your pow­er provider; we are local peo­ple look­ing out for you and build­ing a bet­ter qual­i­ty of life for every­one. Here are the sto­ries of three young stu­dents who are this year’s art com­pe­ti­tion win­ners and the future’s cre­ative lead­ers.

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Cre­ativ­i­ty runs in the fam­i­ly

The win­ner of YEC’s sec­ond annu­al Coop­er­a­tive Prin­ci­ples Art Com­pe­ti­tion for high school stu­dents ages 15–18 is young artist Madi­son Olson of York. Tasked with mak­ing an art­work that rep­re­sents one of the sev­en coop­er­a­tive prin­ci­ples, Olson turned sim­ple balls of yarn into a beau­ti­ful, cro­cheted sculp­ture cap­tur­ing the prin­ci­ple “Con­cern for Com­mu­ni­ty.”

In her piece, Olson aimed to show how YEC cares about our diverse mem­ber­ship. She adds, “The heart in the mid­dle rep­re­sents all the love that York Elec­tric puts into our com­mu­ni­ty.”

Not only did Olson per­fect her con­cept, but she con­tin­ued her family’s tra­di­tion of win­ning, as her broth­er, Cameron, won YEC’s col­or­ing con­test 7 years ago! As her prize, Olson won $300 and the chance to have her work proud­ly dis­played in our Oscar Sadler Meet­ing Room for an entire year.

Learn how to enter next year’s con­test!

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Col­or­ing for safe­ty

Young stu­dent artist Savana Berg­er of Clover is the win­ner of the 2023 Line­men Gear Up for Safe­ty Col­or­ing Con­test for stu­dents ages 6–7. Berg­er enjoys draw­ing in school and mak­ing art at home.

“She had so much fun col­or­ing and even stayed up past her bed­time to fin­ish,” Berger’s mom shares. As the win­ner, Berg­er received $50 and a YEC hard­hat, signed by all of our ded­i­cat­ed line­men.

Learn more on our col­or­ing con­test page!

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From mark­er to mag­net

Fort Mill mid­dle school stu­dent artist Diya Dholiya shows YEC what the pow­er of com­mu­ni­ty means to her. Dur­ing art class, Dholiya used her mark­er skills to cre­ate the win­ning design for York Electric’s third annu­al Co-op Mag­net Design Chal­lenge for mid­dle school stu­dents ages 11–14.

As a bud­ding artist and ded­i­cat­ed stu­dent, Dholiya shares, “I want­ed to use what I have learned in school about elec­tric­i­ty to cre­ate a design that made sense.” Using images of bat­ter­ies, wires and light­bulbs in her final piece, it is clear she did just that. As this year’s win­ner, Dholiya won $100 and the chance to have her art­work shown on all YEC vehi­cles until June 2024.