Hotline School Keeps Industry Grounded
by Bill Barlow, Operations Manager
GRAND JUNCTION, COLO. - (May 1, 2024) A flurry of activity is happening for the next two weeks at Mesa Hotline School. Located near the I-70 Business Loop, the school is one of the best lineworker education and training programs in the country. The many poles jutting out of the ground give testament to the thousands of hours that students must spend practicing both technical and physical skills while minding specific safety procedures. The program — operated by CMU Tech (formerly Western Colorado Community College) and an independent board of directors — has taught and reinforced for thousands of men and women how to safely deliver the flow of electricity to homes and businesses.
What sets the program apart is its ability to satisfy two critical needs in the electric utility industry. First, Mesa Hotline School offers — through CMU Tech — a one-year certification program that is the first step to becoming a lineworker. The lineworker certificate is the foundation of a successful career. It equips lineworkers with the skills they will practice for four years on the job as an apprentice before becoming a journeyman lineman. Those who earn the certificate also have the option of continuing on to earn an associate of applied science degree.
The second need Mesa Hotline School fulfills is continuing education. Lineworkers travel to Grand Junction from across the country to dive deep into the electric industry during a one-week professional development program. Not only is it important for journeymen to regularly demonstrate their command of safe practices, but it’s also critical that they learn how to use new tools and electrical equipment to grow their skills throughout their career. The weeklong Hotline School achieves this success for the industry.
Key to Mesa Hotline School’s training programs is the support it receives from collaborators. There are more than 75 electric cooperatives, municipalities, and investor-owned utilities participating in the school’s continuing education program and providing industry experts to teach classes. Grand Valley Power is among them. Staying grounded in the tools and techniques of the profession and teaching other lineworkers helps us to achieve a culture that puts safety at the top of our values.
We support Mesa Hotline School and the profession as a whole in another way, too. Since 2010, GVP has offered a $2,000 scholarship for the Electrical Lineworker Program at CMU Tech. Applicants must be a Mesa County resident and should submit their application for the scholarship by June 1. The application can be found online at gvp.org. The scholarship reflects GVP’s investment in our community and our industry.
GVP’s scholarship has helped multiple young people launch their successful career in the trades. Each of the past five Lineworker Scholarship recipients has earned or is working toward their journeyman credential. Last year’s scholarship recipient, Branson Padgett, is graduating this month from the CMU Tech Electrical Lineworker program. Grand Valley Power is pleased to have this promising young student begin his career next month as an apprentice lineman at the cooperative.
As the number of retirements grow and the number of young people pursuing trades declines, it is becoming more important than ever for utilities to support educational opportunities. GVP members rely on skilled lineworkers to safely restore power to their homes and businesses when it is disrupted, and the industry has a responsibility to prepare future generations for these jobs.