ITC Great Plains is a large utility company in Kansas, operating power transmission infrastructure serving parts of Kansas and Oklahoma. ITC has held a long-standing relationship with the Electrical Power Technology (EPT) program at Pratt Community College, in the form of scholarships for the lineman training program.
They traveled to meet with the 2021-2022 lineman class on campus and award two scholarships at a small reception. The scholarship recipients were chosen with the help of EPT Director Phillip “Dave” Campbell and instructor Jeff Hoffman.
The scholarship recipients were Konnor Pfeifer and Owen Alexander, who both earned the one-year certificate in Electrical Power Technology and were grateful to ITC for investing in lineman students.
Pictured left to right Brett Leopold, President ITC Great Plains, EPT students Konnor Pfeifer and Owen Alexander. May 2022.
“When I first got the scholarship I was pretty surprised, I didn’t expect it at all. I’d like to thank Pratt Community college for a fun first and last year and Dave and Jeff as my instructors for making it feel like home and my classmates for making it fun, a lot of memories made, a lot of lifetime best friends made. Overall to ITC, thank you for giving back to industry for the younger generation, thank you.”
-Konnor Pfeifer
“It has helped with my finances and it’ll benefit me this summer, I appreciate ITC so much. It’ll help me a lot because I pay for my own way. Dave and Jeff are great teachers, I will always remember them. Some of the best I have had over my years. Really good and hands on if you need something. It’s a great program. “
-Owen Alexander
Brett Leopold, President of ITC Great Plains, describes the EPT program at PCC as a top-notch program that presents graduates with a lot of opportunity, with impressive faculty that are well-respected by their students.
Leopold further explains that ITC invests in the lineman program at PCC because it is critical to find well-educated and well-trained lineman to own and operate high voltage transmissions systems.
“We can’t have enough well-trained qualified lineman that know how to do the job safely. In this particular line of business, and for the foreseeable future, these jobs will continue to be in demand. There are new demands on the industry to expand the grid to accommodate interconnection of a lot of new renewable energy in this part of the country. There’s also continuing turnover with a lot of utility workers who tend to have long tenures and stay in their job for a long time. It’s a good investment and we're proud to have supported this program for the past several years.”
Upon graduation, Pfeifer will work in an internship with Midwest Energy in Hays, KS and Alexander hopes to work with a utility company in Woodward, OK this summer.
Learn more about the EPT program on our website.
Pictured left to right, Monette DePew VP of Instruction, Brett Leopold President of ITC Great Plains, students Konnor Pfeifer and Owen Alexander, Dave Campbell Director of EPT, Dr. Michael Calvert PCC President, May 2022.
