MESSAGE FROM OPERATIONS: Guiding hands-on experience

Rooted in the cooperative principle of education and training, electric cooperatives offer seasonal apprentice lineworkers opportunities to help them build skills and advance their knowledge.

This year, Zach Dockter joined KEM Electric Cooperative crews as a seasonal apprentice lineworker in May. This is an opportunity for apprentice lineworkers to gain 1,000 hours of field work while also working to achieve journeyman status. By working alongside experienced crews, apprentices gain valuable field hours, learn essential safety practices and develop skills critical to the trade.

This experience helps recent lineworker graduates gain valuable skills in maintenance, troubleshooting and safety, which can’t be replicated in a classroom. This hands-on exposure allows apprentices to build confidence and proficiency, reinforcing technical knowledge while exposing them to on-the-job expectations and responsibilities.

While working at the cooperative, apprentices experience a variety of tasks, which can include construction of new services, retiring aging infrastructure, working alongside contractors and service upgrades.

KEM Electric line crews work around the service area every day, which means they visit with our members frequently. By joining the crew, apprentices are not only learning about the technical side of the cooperative, but also about the cooperative principles.

Fostering mentorship and skill development of apprentice lineworkers helps ensure knowledge is strengthened. Apprentices not only gain the hours required for advancement, but also insight into the membership and cooperative model and other values that make a successful lineworker. Through these efforts, KEM Electric continues to invest in education while maintaining the level of reliability members rely upon every day.