BLACKSTONE, Va. — Southside Virginia Community College’s Power Line Worker Training School just received $200,000 from Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) and Gas South to help expand and grow the program.
More than 700 men and women have graduated from the 11 week program over the past 10 years.
The school currently has a waiting list because it matches graduates with good paying in-demand jobs.
“We can't keep up with the demand,” explained Quentin Johnson, President of SVCC. "We can’t enroll all the students, young men and young women that want to come and be a part of this program.”
Graduates, like Hayden Albrich, leave the program with multiple industry-recognized credentials ensuring they are job-ready.
He says he will start work at Dominion Energy right away.
“I wanted to be a lineman for a sense of purpose and fulfillment, putting stuff back together after seeing it's been all destroyed and broken, and then leaving a job and seeing the lights are on, knowing that you've accomplished something,” noted Albrich.
Carley Stephens, who works for Gas South, says the energy industry facing a crisis in terms of talent acquisition as demand grows.
“We really need to develop the next workforce,” said Stephens. “We've got experienced workers retiring. We've got communities expanding, and the demand on the electric grid is just growing and growing. And so we really need to invest in that next generation of workers who are going to power our systems."
Because of the success of the program at SVCC, the Virginia Community College System is expanding the program to additional locations across the state.
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