A record high number of students take part in this year’s Day in the Life of a Lineman education session at Community Electric Cooperative’s headquarters. Twenty eight students from eight different schools participate in the Feb. 24 event, one of the three major pillars of CEC’s Youth Program.
The students, all high schoolers, learn about electric cooperatives broadly and gain insights through presentations and interactive training stations on the work performed by CEC line workers. They also learn about career opportunities and the Power Line Worker Program offered at Southside Virginia Community College.
“What a great event. This is the largest turnout we have had in the many years that Community Electric has offered this program,” CEC Manager of Communications Jessica Parr says. “We are thrilled to see this increasing interest in such an important line of work, and we thank all those who participate to make the day a big success.”
CEC President and Chief Executive Officer Steven A. Harmon, who starts his career as a lineman in Tennessee, welcomes the students and encourages them to consider opportunities in the electric sector as they choose their career paths. Brian Pavlik, Director of Operations at Old Dominion Electric Cooperative, CEC’s power supplier, gives students an overview of ODEC’s power generation facilities in Virginia and Maryland. Pavlik’s colleague, Floyd Lively, Plant Manager at ODEC’s Louisa power plant northwest of Richmond and the father of a lineman, discusses his career within the energy industry and explains some of the engineering basics of plant operations.
The presentations set the stage for the core of the session’s half day of learning, the chance to hear and question line workers face to face before taking part in interactive sessions that bring the words to life.
“We show them what we do,” CEC Journeyman Lineman Daniel Hobson explains. “We tour the facility’s materials room and show them how to pull material. We take them outside to see the trucks and tour the yard to see wires, poles, and other outside materials. Then we take them through the stations where we talk about transformers, tie in wires on what we call smurf, chest high poles with insulators, and hang grounds with a long stick.”
The students then don climbing gear for the experience of ascending, or at least starting to ascend, de energized utility poles, and they accompany line workers on a ride to the top of a pole in truck buckets.
“This is a great thing that we do, getting the younger kids to realize what we do and who we are,” Hobson says, as he closes in on 10 years with CEC. “When I am in high school, this is not even a thought. It is especially good for the young people who may not necessarily want to go to college, because they have the opportunity to get a glimpse of what it would be like to pursue a good career without doing that.”
Jack McCarthy is one of the four ODEC representatives who take part in the session. The Communications and Media Relations Specialist says he and his colleagues are “proud to take part in this tremendous event, introduce high school students to the many careers in the energy industry, and share how we partner with our members.”
SVCC’s participation in the Day in the Life session helps students with a serious interest in a line worker career understand how they can achieve their goal. Its 11 week Power Line Worker Program provides classroom and hands on training in safety, climbing techniques, electrical theory, rigging, and other aspects of a lineman’s work.