step exams earlier this month. Three advanced to the next level of apprenticeship, and two
completed their four-year program and became Journeymen. Pictured here l to r are Tanner
Killmer, Michael Abbott, Luis Gonzalez, Zach Barnum and Dalyn Leavitt.
A group of OPD5 apprentices each advanced a step closer to the goal of becoming electrical
linemen when they passed a rigorous set of exams earlier this month.
All five OPD5 employees who tested, passed their annual exams. Michael Abbott, Zach
Barnum, Luis Gonzalez, Tanner Killmer and Dalyn Leavitt all completed their apprenticeship
step tests on December 3-4.
With this test, Gonzalez and Killmer both successfully completed their four-year apprenticeships
and advanced to Journeymen status.
Abbott, Barnum, and Leavitt also advanced to their next year of training. Abbott and Barnum
entered their fourth year as apprentices, while Leavitt has advanced to his second year in the
program.
Passing these annual step tests is no walk in the park. They are notoriously difficult exams
demanding a tremendous amount of focus, work, and careful preparation of the candidates.
The process includes rigorous online coursework. This demands extensive study, most of which
must be done after work, on the candidates’ own time. All of this is to prepare to pass the
challenging written portion of the test.
“In the weeks before the exam I had to be pretty focused,” said new OPD5 Journeyman Luis
Gonzalez. “I just had to come home every night and go right to the books to study. It puts quite
a bit on our wives, too, because we are not able to help out as much with kids and stuff at
home. My wife did a lot to get me there. I couldn’t have done it without her.”
The program also requires intense practical exams involving intricate electrical work done at the
top of a power pole. This must be done the old-fashioned way: by climbing the wooden pole
without a bucket truck and working on high-voltage lines with hot sticks.
“You don’t know what your scenario is going to be until they give it to you just before the test,”
said new OPD5 Journeyman Tanner Killmer. ”They want it to be as much like rolling up to a real
situation as possible. And they aren’t easy situations. Sometimes a test can take 5-6 hours to
complete.”
OPD5 also makes significant investments to ensure each candidate achieves success
throughout the apprenticeship process. In addition to sending the apprentices to a weekly
lineman academy each week in St. George, the district has also built a training facility locally in
the OPD5 pole yard. In preparation for the exams, the five candidates used that training facility
on Saturdays to get even more hands-on practice.
OPD5 management also organized a rigorous mock test event just before the actual exam
dates. This event drew on the experience of the entire Line Operations team to simulate the
exam as closely as possible for the apprentices.
“Our whole team puts a lot of effort into making it just like the actual exam for these guys,” said
OPD5 Line Operations Manager Kyle Leavitt. “It really makes a difference which shows in the
fact that all of our guys passed their steps this year.”
Leavitt added that the mock exam experience also brings side benefits for his overall crew. “Of
course, it is primarily about helping these apprentices to pass their exams,” he said. “But it is
also good for our more experienced existing linemen. Being a teacher is a tremendously
valuable learning experience all on its own. It builds us into a better team.”
OPD5 General Manager Mendis Cooper was pleased with the advancements. “We have a rich
heritage at OPD5 of hiring good people and training them in-house to become experts in how
we do things here,” he said. “These five men are a great example of that. They have shown
hard work and dedication in what they do. We are proud of those efforts.”