The Utility Line Program at Metropolitan Community College prepares students to enter the power line lineman industry.
Rich Newcomer, Utility Line Instructor for Metro, says the people putting up new poles and fixing downed wires are linemen and that’s the job Metro is preparing their students to do.
He says students take classes full time in fall, winter and spring. Then in the summer, students will complete an internship with a utility company.
Newcomer says students work on crews doing general construction and maintenance jobs. Some of the things they do include building new lines for residential developments or businesses, ensuring things are working properly and responding to individual outages.
Newcomer says students also work in storm restoration.
"We actually had several of our students that were involved in their internships this summer that were involved in the storm restoration here in Omaha. The things they were doing was putting up the wires that blew down or wires that tree limbs took down. Also, reinstalling poles because a lot of poles were broken. So they were on a crew that would be resetting those poles, putting in new poles and putting up new line conductors.”
Students going through the program graduate with an Associate of Applied Science Degree in Utility Line.
Newcomer says when students graduate there are a couple avenues of employment. One is working for a utility company such as OPPD or Lincoln Electrical Service.
Graduates may also choose to work for electrical contractors who do a variety of different jobs.
More information on the program is available at mccneb.edu/util.