Celebrating New Journeyman Linemen

Published on Tuesday, August 18, 2020 in Community

Two Midwest Energy & Communications (MEC) apprentice linemen recently graduated from the Joint Michigan Apprentice Program (JMAP), earning the status of journeyman.

Dan Land of Adrian and Justin McDonald of Cassopolis were among 17 graduates from 11 Michigan utilities honored after completing 7,000 hours of on-the-job training and coursework at the Wolverine Training Center in Lake City, MI. They now continue their work alongside 22 journeyman and apprentice lineworkers across the MEC service territory, providing the essential service of power line maintenance and first-response in the event of outages and emergencies.

“These linemen have devoted thousands of hours to becoming masters in their field,” said Chad Ritchie, MEC Vice President of Electric Operations. “We are proud of their commitment and dedication to provide reliable power and a vital service to the families in our community.”

The JMAP is a U.S. Department of Labor-certified program committed to producing safe, high-quality journeymen through exceptional, state-of-the-art apprenticeship training. The program is a partnership between Wolverine Power Cooperative, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 876 (IBEW), and Northwest Lineman College—an industry-leading educational institution that provides pre-apprentice, apprentice, and journey-level training for hundreds of companies throughout the United States and internationally.