Frisco ISD middle-school students got a charge recently out of a game created by CoServ Electric to help them understand what it takes to provide power to businesses and communities.
CoServ Area Manager Dan Mugg was approached by the Frisco Education Foundation to contribute a fun way to learn about electricity as part of MindBender Academy, a one-week summer program that focuses on technology and engineering.
He created CoServ POWERrace!, a board game that gives students hands-on experience in how to power a community. Built on a 4-foot-by-8-foot board with a small-scale town on top of it, “the game helps students learn how to develop infrastructure,” Mugg said.
Players divide into four groups surrounding the board, each with the mission to bring electricity to a target building across town and to wire as many buildings as they can in the process. The game comes with playing cards and score sheets. The cards create challenges or money-making opportunities, and students have to pay close attention to their competition to know how much money they have and what choices they should make. Lightning can strike and permits can be denied as students experience the real-life challenges of building electric infrastructure.
At MindBender Academy on June 20, it was perfect for Staley Middle School seventh-grader Alan Cortes, 12, who said, “I love engineering and modeling.”
Mugg conducted two, two-hour game sessions with about 30 students each at Frisco ISD’s CTE Center on Wade Boulevard, and he was assisted by CoServ Area Manager Tracee Elrod and Business Accounts Manager Paul Virag.
The students’ busy hands broke a few pieces, but that did not deter Mugg, who said working with kids is important. “I always wanted to be a coach,” he said.
In the coming school year, Mugg said he plans to spread the word about CoServ POWERrace! to schools in CoServ’s service territory.
“In playing the game, students are learning about CoServ and electricity,” he said. “And that’s a great thing because these kids are the next generation of CoServ Members.”
For information on how to bring CoServPOWERrace! to your school, please contact Dan Mugg at communications@coserv.com.
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CoServ Electric is a not-for-profit cooperative based in Corinth, Texas, that provides electric service to more than 142,000 Members across six counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. For real-time updates about power disruptions, weather alerts and tips that can save energy and money, like us today at Facebook.com/CoServEnergy.
CoServ Area Manager Dan Mugg (above) helps Frisco ISD students play CoServ POWERrace! at the Mindbender Academy. Lightning can strike and permits can be denied as students experience the real-life challenges of building electric infrastructure. (Photos courtesy of CoServ)
