GREENSBURG, Pa., June 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- West Penn
Power, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), has hired
30 new graduates from the Power Systems Institute (PSI), the
company's award-winning, two-year educational program that helps
train the next generation of line and substation workers for
FirstEnergy's 10 electric companies.
The new employees include 22 line workers who are recent
graduates of the company's PSI utility training partnership with
Westmoreland County Community College
in Youngwood, Pennsylvania, and
eight new substation electricians who graduated from the program at
Pennsylvania Highlands Community College in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
"Our PSI program has strengthened our diverse workforce pipeline
and instilled safe work practices, proper work methods and
teambuilding by developing the well-educated men and women needed
to provide reliable power to customers, "said John Rea, regional president of West Penn Power.
"We welcome these graduates joining our workforce to help continue
providing safe and reliable electric service for our
customers."
West Penn Power's new PSI graduates include:
- Cy Bailey, Ellwood
- Darin Beres, Uniontown
- Michael Evans, Leetonia
- Riley Gilleland, Hopwood
- Corby Koleno, Bellefonte
- Zachary Shiley, Farmington
- Tyler Snyder, Beallsville
- Zachary Stouffer, New
Middleton
- Cody Wise, Newton Falls
- Joseph Guercio, Johnstown
- Christopher Serafine,
Cadogan
The PSI curriculum for lines employees requires two and a half
days each week spent between Westmoreland
County Community College and West Penn Power's training
facility in Jeanette, Pennsylvania. The PSI curriculum for
substation employees requires a half week spent at Pennsylvania
Highlands and at a FirstEnergy training facility in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, for hands-on learning
that focuses on safe work practices and procedures in the
electrical environment.
FirstEnergy is celebrating 20 years of graduates from the PSI
program, which was originally developed by the company in 2000.
Students who successfully complete the program earn an
associate degree from an affiliated community college in their
area. Since the program's inception, FirstEnergy has hired more
than 2,000 line and substation personnel who completed PSI programs
in Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
For information about how to enroll in the PSI program, call
1-800-829-6801, or go to www.firstenergycorp.com/psi.
West Penn Power serves approximately 725,000 customers in 24
counties within central and southwestern Pennsylvania. Follow West Penn Power on
Twitter @W_Penn_Power and on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/WestPennPower.
FirstEnergy Corp. is dedicated to integrity, safety, reliability
and operational excellence. Its 10 electric distribution companies
form one of the nation's largest investor-owned electric systems,
serving customers in Ohio,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West
Virginia, Maryland and
New York. The company's
transmission subsidiaries operate approximately 24,000 miles of
transmission lines that connect the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic
regions. Follow FirstEnergy online at www.firstenergycorp.com.
Follow FirstEnergy and its utilities on Twitter @FirstEnergyCorp,
@ToledoEdison, @IlluminatingCo, @OhioEdison, @MonPowerWV, @JCP_L,
@Penn_Power, @Penelec, @Met_Ed, @PotomacEdison, @W_Penn_Power.
Editor's Note: Photos of FirstEnergy Power Systems
Institute graduates are available for download on Flickr.
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SOURCE FirstEnergy Corp.