APS provides scholarships to support the next wave of lineworkers

Lineworker scholarships creates opportunity for those interested in high-paying careers in Arizona

The program introduced 200 plus individuals to careers in energy

Arizona Public Service Co. (APS) and Friendly House have partnered to award deserving individuals from throughout the state with scholarships to attend an electrical lineworker program at Yavapai Community College starting in Fall 2021.

Each scholarship covers full tuition for the Electric Utility Line Worker Certificate program that readies graduates for a pre-apprentice position with utility companies like APS.

In 2019, APS and Friendly House partnered to create the APS Lineworker Scholarship program – a scholarship that promotes equality of opportunity, awareness, and greater participation of underrepresented groups in the electric utility line worker workforce.

Tyler Sam is a pre-apprentice lineman, who’s learning the ropes of becoming an APS lineman. They’re the pros who maintain our power and respond when natural disasters hit.

Sam recently got hired at APS. His training to become a journeyman lineman is rigorous. “(We’re) packing ice chests full of ice and water, and getting all of the material out of the shop,” he said. “Whatever they need for that day.”

It’ll take about five years and a lot of work to become a journeyman lineman. To Sam, the opportunity is more than just a job.

He grew up in Navajo Nation in Chinle, without running water. “There are some families on the reservation that still don’t have power or running water. And seeing that, it inspires somebody like me to want to do something about it.”

The scholarship paid for his Chandler-Gilbert Community College classes, which was about $15,000 worth. “It took a big burden off of me because I really wanted to get into linework and the major challenge I was facing was financial.”

Now, Sam is learning all he can now about utilities, with a bright future planned. “I want to be an example because where I’m from there’s not a lot of jobs and there are a lot of people who are trying to look for something to get in.”

“This scholarship gives them that first step,” Jerry Mendoza, Friendly House CEO said. “(It) gives them one way to get in and get going with it.”

APS and Friendly House said they’ve introduced more than 200 individuals to careers in energy through targeted outreach and pre-apprentice program information sessions, so far. The first cohort of scholarship recipients had a 78% graduation rate.

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