When Brian Bick was fresh out of high school, he started taking college classes but soon discovered he didn’t enjoy spending his days in a classroom. He decided to pursue a career as an electric lineworker.
The joint degree program provides both advancement potential for lineworkers and short- and long-term benefits for Ohio’s electric cooperatives, says Kyle Hoffman, manager of COLT. “Most people think of line work as a trade that doesn’t require continuing education. That’s far from the case,” he says. “The linemen who work for our Ohio electric cooperatives are some of the brightest and most energetic people in our industry.