Robb Darden, Community Electric Cooperative’s newest journeyman lineworker, isn’t quite pinching himself, but he definitely feels blessed.
In mid-July, he was among 15 students who graduated from the Lineworker Technician Apprentice Program run by the Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives (VMDAEC), of which CEC is a member. His accomplishment capped a four-year commitment since joining CEC in 2022 that has made him the ninth member of CEC’s current staff certified as a journeyman.
“I’m still young, and I’ll still got so much more to learn. Still, I’m proud of how far I’ve come and learned in my trade, and how far I have advanced,” Darden says. “God has been with me every step of the way and taken me places I never thought I’d be. That’s the honest truth.”
Still only 23, Darden admits that, during his high school years less than a decade ago, he “really didn’t know what a lineman was.” A presentation at the school by a representative of Southside Virginia Community College, which offers a Power Line Worker program as part of its curriculum, intrigued him.
“I told my parents, ‘I kind of want to try this school out. My Mom said it was way too dangerous,” Darden recalls. “After high school, I kind of beat around the bush and worked some 9 to 5 jobs and construction, but I kept thinking I want to go to lineman school, and I finally went in January 2022.”
A self-described “home body,” Darden wanted to work in the area but knew there isn’t a high degree of turnover at electric cooperatives. God intervened, however, and mere weeks before his graduation from Southside’s power line program, he learned of an opening at CEC and joined the cooperative the day after his graduation in June 2022.
Darden’s completion of the program demonstrates to his fellow linemen and CEC’s members that he has the full skill set necessary to do the difficult and hazardous work often demanded by the position. It also has the potential to strengthen the lineworker team, Darden feels, because of the rapport that, by virtue of his age, he has with other, relatively younger lineman who might find him more approachable than some of their more senior colleagues.
"I couldn't be more proud of Robb and all that he has accomplished as he begins this next chapter of his career as a journeyman lineman," VMDAEC Instructor J.T. Jacobs says. "Throughout his apprenticeship, he consistently demonstrated a strong work ethic, a commitment to learning, and a genuine desire to improve every time he stepped into the classroom or the field.
“As instructors, our greatest hope is that when an apprentice graduates, we've instilled a mindset where safety is their highest value and guides every decision they make. I have no doubt that Robb embodies that principle and will represent his cooperative and the profession with excellence."
Beyond the journeyman certification, Darden feels greatly enriched by his experience in the VMDAEC training program.
“More than anything the camaraderie is great. You’re learning how other cooperatives and power companies are run, the conversations in the class are good, and you’re learning stuff you wouldn’t learn in the field. But you learn it.”
He notes, for example, that he and his classmates toured a plant in Lynchburg that manufactures transformers. They learned how decisions are made on where to site power lines, how to deal with right-of-way easements and much more.
“It’s a pretty good feeling to have graduated from the program,” he says. “When I started out, I asked the question of myself, ‘Can I do this?’, and I’ve done it.”