In this world, some people just worry about a problem. Others take action. Take Donald Leiching, one of the first linemen profiled in our Lifeline department 11 years ago within Transmission and Distribution World magazine's Electric Utility Operations section.
After 33 years in the electric utility industry, which included jobs in both line work and management, Leiching anticipated the shortage of trained workers entering the trade. He noticed that all of the workers who were trained were coming from the schools "down South," says his wife, Nanci.
"There was a shortage of training schools available to them in the Mid-Atlantic and New England region, and it became his dream to rectify that situation," Nanci Leiching says.
After moving his family back to their hometown, Leiching and his family worked on building a new pre-apprentice lineman training school in upstate New York. Unlike other pre-apprenticeship programs, the 15-week program takes a more individualized approach to education and training.
Our heart and soul is in this school, and it shows in our interaction with our students and their families," says Nanci Leiching. "The L.I.N.E. family wants to give back to repay the incredible life we have been given."
This gallery gives a virtual tour of the classroom, indoor training area and outdoor pole yard. It also shows Leiching's family, who helped make his dream a reality, as well as his students in action.
Learn more by visiting the Web site.