“The two vehicles donated by Comporium will be put to good use in the field training portion of the program,” said Dr. Ed Duffy, vice president of development. The donated trucks include a 1994 Ford F450 heavy-duty utility vehicle and a 1996 Ford Explorer SUV. York Technical College accepted Comporium’s offer because it provided a way for the college to transport all of the tools and equipment needed for the instruction in overhead and underground line and cable installation. 

“This first training session has gotten off to a great start thanks to the partnership we have formed with companies such as Comporium, Pike Electric, Duke Power, York Electric Co-op, along with vendors such as American Safety, Kline Tools and Al Tec,” Dr. Duffy added.  “In addition, we just received notification from the Catawba Regional Council of Governments that we will be receiving a grant through the Workforce Investment Act that will help qualified students with tuition for this program.”

The intent of the grant is to assist someone who is “in transition” from one career to another for causes such as layoffs. Also, persons who are under-employed or unemployed may be assisted. The amount of each grant is nearly $5,500.

The first session will be completed in three weeks, and according to Mary Sanderson, York Technical College’s program manager, the next classes are set to begin in January. “The normal eight-week program will begin January 16, and we will add a Saturdays-only course that will go through the entire spring semester,” she said. “We feel like this program is going to really take off based on the interest being shown both locally and nationally.”

Glenn McFadden, Comporium’s executive vice president of operations, said his company is pleased that York Technical College launched the Line Worker Training Program because of the shortage of well-trained technicians. “In addition to the trucks that we donated, we joined the other utility partners in developing the curriculum, and we produced a television commercial to make prospective students aware of the program,” McFadden said. “We knew this program was going to take off when Mary Sanderson called us and asked us to stop running the commercial because she was getting so many calls.”

For more information regarding the Line Worker Training Program, call York Technical College at 981-7020 or e-mail Sanderson at msanderson@yorktech.com.