Photos by Peyton Thomas, COMM 1318 Photography 1
Twice a week, students in the South Plains College Electrical and Power Transmission Technology (ELPT) program gear up to for hands-on training on the Levelland campus.
“We have a climbing class, we climb poles, and learn how to work with climbing belt and hooks,” ELPT student Noah Head says. “And we work out of a bucket truck.”
Head says the height of the bucket truck didn’t bother him. But he admits the first time he went up high wearing hooks and a belt he was told not to look down. He did anyway. And he says he regretted it immediately.
Students in the ELPT program learn how to drive the bucket truck and set it up
safely.
SPC ELPT Instructor Henry Hernandez says 90 percent of the training these students get is out in the field.
“Because when they get in the world, when they get out there in the real world, and they’re out there working for a company,” he says, “it’s out there. They’re not going to be sitting in a classroom.”
Hernandez says a huge priority is teaching about safety both in training and on the job. He says students learn about everything including hard hats, safety glasses, rubber or leather gloves, and the importance of wearing long sleeves and composite rather than steel boots.
“They understand that because there are hazards out here in just the training,” he says.
Hernandez says a separate class is devoted just to pole climbing. That happens in the fall semester.
Head says he Head says as a plan for the future.
“I’m getting one certificate for the electrician specialization and then another certificate for a utility technician,” he says. “After I get both of those, I plan to just go to work.”
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