FLORENCE, Ky. — A new grant awarded to a northern Kentucky college aims to address a labor shortage in a field most everyone depends on, especially, as Kentuckians have been reminded this summer, following severe weather.

Anyone who had their power knocked out by recent storms can probably thank a line worker for getting it restored. One current line worker who is also a former student of the program said it was a life-changing experience for her.

Georgia Hummel was on track to go to medical school, but her career path took a complete 180-degree turn. She described what her duties entail now as an apprentice line worker with Duke Energy.

“Staying busy, making sure we have all of the equipment we need ready, getting all the material together, helping with the grunt work,” she said.

Georgia Hummel is now a line worker apprentice in Indiana with Duke Energy. (Spectrum News 1/Sam Knef)

How Hummel ended up working on power lines in Indiana can be traced back to the poll farm at the Gateway Community and Technical College Boone County campus. It comprises four power line poles on which students can get real-world, hands-on experience. The original plan was not for Hummel to take part in the college’s line worker certificate program, but it found her.

“I was actually helping my fiancé apply for the program when I discovered it, and decided that it sounded pretty interesting to me,” Hummel said.

After that, it was goodbye medical school, and hello to coming to the poll farm for five hours every night after work, learning wire sizes and other line worker basics, like how to climb.

“Ended up falling in love with it,” Hummel said.

Now the company that hired Hummel is trying to create more opportunities for people like her to fall in love.

A $25,000 workforce grant from Duke Energy will help Gateway expand the line worker program, potentially going from the four poles it currently has to 20 to 24 poles, and increasing the capacity for classes currently capped at 15.

Providing a pathway toward a four-year degree, or a certificate in skilled trade, is what Gateway President and CEO Fernando Figueroa said makes community college so valuable.

“It is the most underutilized resource this country has,” Figueroa said.

Gateway Community and Technical College’s ‘poll farm’ features four power poles students can work on. (Spectrum News 1/Sam Knef)

The 16-week line worker program can be applied toward an associate’s degree, but Energy Program Coordinator David Schaefer said students who just want the certificate, like Hummel, don’t have trouble landing good jobs.

“We’ve had a handful of them, probably more than a handful, that’ve actually been hired before they even completed their certificate,” Schaefer said.

Schafer said 80% of the program is spent on the poles, with the rest being spent in classrooms. It’s the only program of its kind in northern Kentucky. It’s offered in the spring and fall.

Massive power outages in Kentucky and surrounding states following severe storms in June, followed up by extreme heat, showed exactly why training more line workers to fill the current labor gap that exists is so needed, Figueroa said.

“You can imagine with this heat wave, and the storms that we’ve had, electricity and getting connection to reliable power is essential to the future of our community,” he said.

It also validated the direction Hummel, who was dispatched to those outages, took her career.

“Both days were 16 hour shifts, and definitely hard work. I at least had that foundation and was able to help a little bit more,” Hummel said. “When you restore power, and you have people coming out giving you applause, or thanking you, it definitely gives you that sense of gratitude and thankfulness for this job.”

Hummel said she’s elated to see her current employer is helping her former school give more people the chance to discover a career she never expected to have, let alone love.

“The program gave me that start, and it gave me the opportunity that I never would’ve even remotely thought that I would ever have. And knowing that this program is going to be expanded, thanks to Duke and all of their support, makes me feel good about the opportunity that it’s going to give to others about being able to start in this field, and give them the chance that they might not have had either,” she said.

According to Gateway Community and Technical College, the line technician program was developed and launched in 2020 to address the local labor shortage in the field. Close to 50 students have already earned their line tech certificate since the Spring of 2020 and obtained employment.

The college has seen a steady enrollment increase in the line worker program since its launch.