Although Shane Smith grew up on electric cooperative power lines 15 minutes from the Utilities District of Western Indiana REMC’s office in Bloomfield, he had no concept of what a cooperative was when he interviewed for an internship during his first year of college in 1994. Smith knew he wanted to be an engineer of… Continue reading.

Erica Worland acknowledges the role of family in achieving the career success she’s had working for electric cooperatives. But that family is not just blood, it’s extended through her community and among the cooperatives themselves. Worland just completed her first year as the director of finance and accounting for Daviess-Martin County REMC in Loogootee. There,… Continue reading.

At 23, Shadd McLochlin has been working for just about five years. In that short span, he’s worked all aspects of wireless and fiber internet, has earned a double major in business management and marketing, supervises five employees and has worked for two owners operating under two business models. “It’s always changing. It’s always moving… Continue reading.

After high school and college, Pete Byrum worked a couple of jobs, but no job felt like a permanent “home” until he took a position just beyond his high school’s front doors at his hometown electric cooperative. It was a place his dad had encouraged him to look into since high school. At age 28,… Continue reading.

In four short years, Stefanie Lifford has gone from taking calls from individual consumers to now working on the electric distribution side monitoring power flow, troubleshooting outages, and helping keep the lights on for large numbers of consumers at a time. “That was really the big picture for me,” she said. “As a customer contact… Continue reading.

Since 2009, Indiana Electric Cooperatives has recognized young Hoosiers through the Youth Power and Hope Awards. The awards program — coordinated by the staff of Indiana Connection magazine — honors a select group of middle school students in grades 5 through 8 who are making an impact on their communities. The winners for 2022 were… Continue reading.

After college, Jason Clemmons worked as a high school guidance counselor in his hometown of Rushville. He also facilitated a young mothers’ group and worked with at-risk youth through the Mayor’s Youth Council at the Boys and Girls Club. He had a full plate.  These were 80-hour weeks, he said, giving him little time to… Continue reading.

Samantha Kuhn grew up surrounded by all things electric cooperative. For most of her life, her dad was a cooperative CEO, including the CEO of Kosciusko REMC in northern Indiana. But as a college student interested in journalism, she never dreamed she’d follow her dad’s footsteps into a career at an electric utility … until she… Continue reading.

Electric linemen are a tough breed. They climb 30-foot wooden poles in all kinds of weather with only metal spikes strapped to their legs and a leather belt around the pole and themselves. They work within reach of live power lines protected physically by only rubber gloves and sleeves. But Brent Buckles, a former lineman… Continue reading.

The average worker will hold 10 different jobs before the age of 40 and a dozen throughout his or her career, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says. Chad Hinesley was right at that average. He held 10 different jobs by age 44. But how many “average workers” hold 10 different jobs without ever changing employers?… Continue reading.

Randy Kleaving always heard one proverb when he was young: “No matter how good something is, when you’re done with it, you need to leave it better.” That’s something he says he’s always taken to heart: in his vocation as a farmer, and multiple avocations as volunteer firefighter, county commissioner, and director on his local,… Continue reading.

Chris Chastain’s first experience with an electric cooperative was as a “fuzzy” — a nickname the linemen and outdoor crews gave to college kids hired as summer interns. “I suppose that probably derived from the peach fuzz still on our faces,” Chastain says. But, what the Rose-Hulman electrical engineering student saw at his hometown electric… Continue reading.