COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service's TEEX Lineworker Academy celebrated the graduation of fifteen students from their program Thursday.
According to a press release, the future lineworkers completed the 15-week academy, which included 480 hours of classroom instruction, various field exercises, and a skills test. This program prepares students to install powerlines or repair the ones that are down due to the weather or other technical reasons.
With the recent storms in Texas, Louisiana, and other states, Kevin Moore, a training coordinator with the Utilities Division, said the program deployed people in harsh conditions before to restore power when it was necessary.
“My biggest hope for these students coming in is to teach them how to do it safely, teach them how to do it correctly,” said Moore. “So they can go home by the end of the evenings and be with their families.”
Moore said whenever the Texas snowstorm hit, linemen and others from all over the country helped restore power to the people enduring the freezing temperatures.
The academy hopes to have more students walk through their doors and help restore power when people need it the most.