On October 30th, VCC Clean Communities and Economic Development Director Graham Sheridan participated in the Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware Association of Electric Co-Ops Girl Power event. This event is for high school students interested in working for their local power co-op when they graduate.
Electrical work, especially line-worker work, is still a heavily male field. However, these are good paying jobs that women are beginning to access. The first female line worker in Virginia was at the event, teaching young women how to climb the poles and get to the lines!
Additionally, in many rural parts of Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware, the local power co-op runs the broadband. The girls went through a series of rotations at different stations – a pole climbing station, a line study station, a fiber optic station, a bucket truck driving simulator, and others.
It was exciting to see how many people take such pride in their work at the co-ops. Providing power and broadband is seen as both a viable career and a real community service. Several of the line-workers spoke of it as an exciting career and the ability to travel. Many had been all over the country and on foreign trips repairing power lines following storms.
VCC is glad to be a partner of the co-ops and see young people embrace the possibility of energy careers.
