Contact our Education Specialists to set up a safety lesson for your group

Central Electric Power Cooperative's (CEPC) Education Specialists Keith Mueller and Joe Schmitz both drive hundreds of miles across Mid-Missouri each month. Their goal — to keep kids and adults safe and informed about electricity. CEPC, in Jefferson City, is our electric generation and transmission cooperative that is owned by eight distribution cooperatives including Callaway Electric. Keith and Joe offer free safety and efficiency presentations to schools and groups of all ages across the eight cooperative service areas. Cooperatives hold steadfast to the seven cooperative principles, including Principle 5: Education, Training and Information. Callaway Electric strives to promote programs that help strengthen our local communities' awareness about electricity. During the 2022-23 school year, Keith and Joe have visited more than 13 schools and over 1,500 students in Callaway Electric's service area.

Keith has been teaching safety programs since 1998. He focuses on indoor and outdoor electrical safety. This includes details about insulators and conductors, series and parallel circuits, and different forms of generation. Some key takeaways from his program are that you need to stay at least 10 ft. away from power lines and always regard any power line as dangerous.

Joe is in his seventh year with CEPC. He teaches about efficient energy use and how Callaway Electric's electricity is produced. The efficiency presentation covers items that we encounter every day and how much energy we use with items such as lights, televisions, tablets and computers. Kids today use more electricity and are more familiar with electrical devices than other generations. Joe then talks about traditional energy sources (coal, natural gas) and renewable sources (wind, solar, hydropower) that Callaway Electric uses. He talks about cooperatives' environmentally friendly practices with clean coal technologies and renewable energy options.

In schools, Keith and Joe both work to align their course to each teacher's curriculum. They want to reinforce what's being taught and incorporate safety in the lessons. Keith teaches third through sixth grades, while Joe teaches fifth through eighth grades. They continually update their programs to have the latest safety, efficiency and power production information. At the end of each school presentation, they let the students share their stories and ask questions. They want students to then go and share what they learned about electricity safety with others.

"We want it to be educational, fun and interactive," Joe says.

Keith and Joe are available to teachers as a professional resource. They have built up many professional relationships with educators over time. They are always looking for more schools with which to share their knowledge.

"We want to make sure kids respect electricity inside and outside," Keith says. "It's a wonderful form of energy, but it can be deadly if you lose respect."

The safety programs are available for other organizations as well. Many student organizations such as Boy and Girl Scouts, 4-H and FFA have had presentations. Fire and police departments, MoDOT and co-op employees have had training and situational programs. Joe and Keith even make presentations at events. They've been to co-op annual meetings, camps, county fairs and science fairs.

To learn more about the programs and for more information, you may call Callaway Electric or contact Keith and Joe directly.

Keith Mueller (safety) 573-761-2844 kmueller@cepc.net  

Joe Schmitz (efficiency) 573-761-2811 jschmitz@cepc.net