Lineworker Career Days encourage high school seniors to reach new heights in southeast Alabama
Lineman Adam Vinyard, left, and Apprentice Lineman Drake Deppe, back right, with a student at their station during the Phenix City career day. (Brooke Goff / Alabama News Center)
Lineworkers are the superheroes of the utility industry, often working in unpleasant weather conditions and difficult terrains. At Alabama Power, lineworkers start their careers as apprentices where they learn the fundamentals of electricity as well as the skills needed to safely work on power lines. After undergoing intensive training, they are ready to tackle the hard work of being a full-capacity lineworker.
Alabama Power is always looking toward the future with a goal of ensuring the company has a skilled workforce to continue providing reliable and sustainable power to Alabama for years to come. One of the ways the company reaches this goal is by educating the next generation of lineworkers. Alabama Power’s Southeast Division recently held two career days at the crew headquarters in Headland and Phenix City to encourage local high school students to seek careers in the energy industry.
Over the course of these two career days, approximately 70 high schoolers from more than 20 schools across the Wiregrass area had an opportunity to shadow seasoned professionals to better understand the skills it takes to be a successful lineman.
Alabama Power’s Southeast Division hosted its first lineworker career day in 2024 at the Headland crew headquarters. Because of the success of last year’s event, the company added another career day in 2025 to accommodate the growing number of students interested in learning more about careers at Alabama Power. To participate in these career days, a student must be a senior and have an interest in the energy industry, specifically linework.
For Alabama Power, these career days mainly serve as a recruitment tool. However, they also provide valuable education to students about the work that Alabama Power does.
“It’s all about recruitment. There’s a lot of knowledge that our linemen and our employees have, but eventually that knowledge is going to be gone unless we are able to pass it on. Today was the foundation of our recruitment efforts,” said David Norwood, Alabama Power community relations manager. “These students are seniors. In three or four months they are going to be making decisions on the next chapter of their lives. We wanted to provide them with some information that we hope will allow them to better understand the reality of working in the utility industry.”
In her role as an Alabama Power community relations specialist, Brooke Goff visits schools and speaks with students in classrooms about the career opportunities available at the company. She often gets asked about careers in linework, so she was happy to see the lineworker career day come to fruition in the Wiregrass area.
“What makes this event unique is that each student is here for the same reason – they specifically have an interest in a lineworker career,” Goff said. “They get to have one-on-one conversations with our linemen that do this job every day. And of course, our linemen enjoy interacting with the students, who are the future of our workforce.”
Career days like these are made possible through the involvement of many, including community members, Alabama Power employees and the company’s dedicated linemen. Because of these partnerships, future linemen are created, and community relationships are forged.
“Last year at this event we had five Henry County students that attended, and out of those five, three went on to complete the lineman apprentice program through Wallace Community College,” said Amanda Hardy, career coach for Henry County Schools, including Headland and Abbeville high schools. “So, I think that’s a huge success story and shows the impact that days like this have on helping kids solidify that they are on the right track and moving in the right direction. So, thank you, Alabama Power!”
“We have great partnerships, especially with our local school systems and our career coaches,” Norwood said. “Career coaches are vital in making days like today a success, and we rely on them and their direct relationship with the students. They know the students that really want to have a career in the utility industry —they have allowed them the opportunity to join us today.”
These career days consisted of several interactive stations, each designed to showcase the skills needed for linework. Participants were divided into groups and rotated through each station, learning more about electricity safety, electrical circuits and transmission, pole climbing, the mechanized equipment used to complete work in the field and a warehouse tour to show students the vehicles, materials and tools used by Alabama Power’s field workers. Participants had the opportunity to perform a few linework duties as well as touch, see and handle some of the gear linemen use on a daily basis. Alabama Power’s skilled linemen also performed live demonstrations.
Additionally, students heard from Rachel Waterhouse, Alabama Power Project support analyst, at the Headland event and Andreal Howard, recruiting consultant, at the Phenix City event about the company’s support of lineworker education programs at colleges across the state, the variety of careers possible in the energy industry and other workforce development topics.
Though recruitment and student education about the energy industry were the primary focuses of these career days, they were also an opportunity for Alabama Power to connect directly with the community, helping to boost local employment.
Beth Parkman, career coach for Smiths Station High School, attended the Phenix City event. She was excited for her students to be part of the day and spoke about the importance of them attending in-person career fairs in their communities and getting hands-on experience from employees who live in the area.
“It connects their idea to a reality. That’s critical because sometimes in high school, students don’t know what they don’t know yet,” Parkman said. “This is really good for them to get a peek into jobs right here in our community, and hopefully it will spark an interest or inspire them to apply for a job or even pursue training that will get them here to this job.”
Alabama Power was excited to host students for these career days as well. During the Phenix City event, David Quinney, Alabama Power community relations manager, observed that some students came dressed already looking like linemen. He also enjoyed seeing students connect with Alabama Power’s employees.
“I was excited to see that we had so many young students interested in Alabama Power, and I was very proud to see our employees sharing with them,” Quinney said. “The opportunity for students to discuss their future with real Alabama linemen has to be so valuable in helping the students decide their employment future.”
Brian McAllister, power delivery supervisor at Alabama Power, attended the event in Headland and considers engagement with potential future employees as the main goal of these career days. He believes being present in schools and the community is vital to ensuring the future of the company’s lineworkers.
“This event gives us an opportunity to get really intentional. Our linemen can be really engaged and show them hands-on experience, what it looks like, up close and personal,” McAllister said. “Those students can then take that back home and process it and make an informed decision if this is something they want to do.
“We want to have a constant presence in our schools and our local communities to ensure we’re interacting with talented students, giving them the opportunity to learn about this awesome career.”
Gavin Cox, a senior at Headland High School and career day participant, plans to answer the call to be a future lineman. Cox was already interested in working for Alabama Power before the event, but seeing the depth, breadth and variety of work required to be a lineman further encouraged him to pursue the career.
There’s just so many more opportunities than just doing the same thing every day,” Cox said.
The most important lesson Cox indicated that he learned during the career day was “having initiative and integrity with the things you do.”
“You gotta come out here. You gotta put in the work. You gotta want to do what you’re doing,” Cox said. “And that will put you where you need to be to make a good career for yourself. That will put you ahead of all the competition, and that’s really the best thing you can do for yourself.”
These career days took place just prior to Lineworker Appreciation Day, which is observed on April 18 each year to recognize the dedication, skill and bravery of lineworkers.
Those who would like to share their appreciation to Alabama Power’s lineworkers and field representatives can visit AlabamaPower.com/ThankALineman.
