(MARSHALL, Texas) – On Thursday, Nov. 6, Texas State Technical College’s Electrical Lineworker and Management students from the Marshall campus visited Wilkes Power Plant in Avinger, a power generation station owned by Southwestern Electric Power Co.
Samuel Roberts, one of the program’s instructors, organized the field trip for the students.
“I wanted our students to broaden their scope on the power industry as a whole,” he said. “At our Marshall campus, we mainly instruct our students on the distribution side of the industry. I was hoping they would gain a better perspective of how electricity is generated from the start.”
The 20 students were split into three groups and given tours of the plant from top to bottom by three Wilkes Power Plant employees. One of those employees was Brad Wheat, the plant’s operations supervisor.
“We showed them how the electricity is made, basically,” he said. “They asked really good questions.”
Evryn Smith, an Electrical Lineworker and Management student, said this was his first field trip with TSTC. He asked Wheat several questions about the ins and outs of the plant’s machinery to better understand it.
“I didn’t know that TSTC offered field trips like that, so being someone who was selected to go made me feel privileged,” Smith said. “I’m grateful for TSTC giving me the opportunity to see things from that perspective.”
Classmate David Robertson said the plant opened his mind to a new spectrum of career opportunities for himself and his fellow students.
“I thought the tour was very impressive,” he said. “It was very professional and it’s a very clean plant.”
In addition to Marshall, Electrical Lineworker and Management is available at TSTC’s Abilene, Fort Bend County, Harlingen and Waco campuses.
For more information on TSTC, go to tstc.edu.