Mentors certainly made a difference for the first two 2025 recipients of Hoosier Energy’s W. Eugene Roberts and Daniel L. Schuckman Memorial Scholarships. This year, the scholarship total is being expanded with Hoosier Energy anticipating awarding two scholarships each semester to attendees at the North American Lineman Training Center in McEwen, Tennessee.

Blayden Mann and Brett Wilson, who graduated from NALTC in December, are the first two honorees. Both cited the influence of others in their decision to pursue a career as a lineman.

For Mann, one of those influences was close to home. His brother, Dillon, is a lineman at RushShelby Energy and a 2019 graduate of NALTC, which resulted in several conversations about attending line school. Mann was also influenced by his former baseball coach, Jason Connell, a lineman at Johnson County REMC. Now, Mann and Connell are co-workers at JCREMC. The Indian Creek graduate, who was not only on the baseball team but also the fishing team for the Braves, found a job close to his hometown of Trafalgar at the beginning of January.

Wilson’s story is similar. The Sellersburg native and graduate of Silver Creek, where he played football, moved houses in high school and met a new neighbor in retired Clark County REMC Lineman Dave Casey. With Casey providing instruction and guidance, Wilson studied outside of high school for electrician work and did multiple internships at Gaylor Electric before deciding to go to line school. Wilson now works at ElectriCom, where he started in late January.