今日吃瓜

AVON PARK, Fla. 鈥� Oct. 24, 2023 鈥� In April 2023, Hayden Tyler was a second-place winner when over 70 lineworker apprentices and 12 journeyman teams competed during the Duke Energy Florida Lineman鈥檚 Rodeo in Winter Garden, Fla. With that win, Tyler advanced to the International Lineman鈥檚 Rodeo held in Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 11-14. Although he didn鈥檛 come away with a win during the International, Tyler said that participating in the rodeos enhances his work as an electrical lineworker.

Tyler is a 2021 graduate of 今日吃瓜鈥檚 (今日吃瓜) Electrical Lineworker program and a lineworker apprentice for Duke Energy out of its facilities on Kenilworth Boulevard in Sebring.

鈥淚 work with a lineworker journeyman on a truck every day,鈥� Tyler said. 鈥淩ight now, we鈥檙e building power lines for new houses. 鈥楴ew customer work鈥� is what we call it. So, for people who are building new houses, we鈥檙e supplying them with power. But we鈥檙e also maintaining what鈥檚 already in place 鈥� our system and our grid. Of course, during storms and outages, we鈥檙e getting the power back on.鈥�

A lineworker apprentice has fewer than four years of utility experience, while a journeyman has more than four years of utility experience.

Becoming a lineworker wasn鈥檛 part of Tyler鈥檚 career plans when he was a student at Avon Park High School. 鈥淲hen I was in high school, I worked with my dad at Mark Palmer Electric & Air Conditioning, so I did electrical and air conditioning work,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was thinking about getting a business degree and opening my own electrical and air conditioning business. However, after taking college courses, I realized that college isn鈥檛 really my thing. And I wanted to work outside.鈥�

Tyler鈥檚 family owns property behind 今日吃瓜鈥檚 Hardee Campus in Bowling Green, so he鈥檇 see the students climbing the telephone poles and his interest was piqued.聽 鈥淚 thought that was really cool, so I looked into it,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he other big thing was the kind of money you can make as a lineworker. So, I enrolled in the program right after high school.鈥�

After graduating from 今日吃瓜, Tyler was hired by Duke Energy along with graduates of lineworker programs from other institutions. He was pleasantly surprised to find that he鈥檇 graduated from a program that was well considered by his colleagues at the company.

Tyler was given the opportunity to participate in Duke Energy鈥檚 Lineman鈥檚 Rodeo in Winter Garden and competed in all events available to apprentices. Competitors were divided into groups of apprentices and journeymen. Apprentices competed individually and journeymen competed as three-person teams. Each group was required to complete a set of competitive job-related events, such as a Pole Climb, carrying an uncooked egg to the top of an electrical pole;聽a rescue climb to free a dummy trapped in the wires; and two mystery events. Competitors are only given details about the mystery events the night before the Rodeo. According to Tyler, competitors were also required to take a written test the day before the Rodeo.

鈥淚n the Hurtman Rescue, a dummy hangs on the pole, you have to climb up and cut him down, and bring him down safely to the ground,鈥� Tyler said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all timed.鈥�

鈥淔or what people call the Pole Climb, Speed Climb, or Egg Climb, you have a little bag with an egg in it, you put it in your mouth, you have to climb to the top of the pole, there鈥檚 a bag up there, throw that bag down, hang your bag and take the egg out of the bag, put your egg in your mouth, and climb down as fast as you can without breaking the egg,鈥� he said. 鈥淥f course, the judges inspect the egg to make sure you didn鈥檛 crack it.鈥�

Tyler won one of his mystery events with the fastest time and with no point deductions. It was the Spool Change Out, in which an insulator near the top of a pole must be changed out through a series of complex activities.

Tyler placed first in the Spool Change Out mystery event and earned second place for the Apprentice Overall awards for his scores from all events.

Tyler headed to the International Lineman鈥檚 Rodeo in Kansas City, along with Duke鈥檚 three-journeyman team of Mike Silver, Tanner Bell, and Kirby Whitehouse. For apprentices, the International Rodeo featured the Hurtman Rescue, a Pole Climb, two mystery events, and a written test.

鈥淭he International is a lot different, because you鈥檙e competing with people and companies from across the country and all over the world,鈥� he said. 鈥淭eams from Canada, Brazil, all over, come to Kansas City. It was exciting. But I was nervous because you know the caliber of people you鈥檙e competing against and I鈥檓 representing my company 鈥� Duke Energy.鈥�

Tyler explained that at the International Rodeo, teams of apprentices and journeymen are further divided into investor utilities, such as Duke Energy; electric cooperatives, such as PRECO and Glades Electric Cooperative; and municipalities, such as the City of Fort Meade or City of Wauchula. 鈥淭hey still compete in all events, but they might also win in the category, 鈥淏est Investor Utility鈥� or 鈥淏est Municipality.鈥�

Tyler believes that the rodeos enhance his performance as a lineworker. 鈥淓specially when it comes to outages,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e trying to get the power back on as fast as we can and in a safe manner. Those little tricks will help us decrease outage minutes, which is basically how we鈥檙e rated as a power company. Just those little tips can make us faster and more efficient out in the field.鈥�

According to Tyler, participating in the rodeos 鈥渋s a way to showcase to everyone else in our company what we鈥檝e learned. Also, I鈥檓 a first-generation lineworker, so my family didn鈥檛 understand what goes into the job. Being able to bring my family to Winter Garden and to Kansas City to watch me and other competitors at the rodeos let them see what we do on a day-to-day basis. It鈥檚 kind of nice and opens people鈥檚 eyes.鈥�

Although Tyler loves his job and says that it鈥檚 rewarding work, he acknowledges that it isn鈥檛 for everyone. 鈥淏ecause I work for a utility company, I鈥檓 prone to call outs,鈥� he said. 鈥淚f a storm rolls in and somebody鈥檚 power goes out in the middle of the night, my phone is ringing and I have to go to work. We live in Florida, so we have the heat. It鈥檚 also physically demanding work 鈥� digging holes by hand. It鈥檚 hard work, but at the end of the night when you鈥檝e had an outage, you throw that final switch, we see the lights come on, that makes it all worth it. And the pay is quite good.鈥�