The Hoosier Energy Apprenticeship Training & Safety (HEATS) program held its 2025 graduation ceremony on October 17 in French Lick.
It was the largest attendance at a graduation since 2022, when three years’ worth of graduates were honored due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The 2025 ceremony had 60 graduates and 363 attendees. That brings the total number of HEATS graduates to 924 since the inception of the program in 1974, with another 184 apprentices currently enrolled across the disciplines of Line, Meter, Substation, MSR and Fiber.
Highlighting this year’s graduates were a trio of Academic Award winners: UDWI’s Jacob Pyne for the Lineman Program, Hoosier Energy’s Brent Stevenson in the Meter Program and Hoosier Energy’s Tony Bonham in the Substation Program.
The 2025 graduates in the Lineman Program were: Harley Applegate and Dylan Conrad of Clark County REMC; Jarrett Arvin and Dwain Jolliff of Daviess-Martin County REMC; Garret Berg of Dubois REC; Logan Murphy, Brandon Pace and Derek Saunders of Harrison REMC; Jason Burton, Drew Horning and Cory Murphy of Henry County REMC; Chad Campbell, Alex Hopf and Colin Lane of Hoosier Energy; Kevin Huffman and Peyton Olds of Southeastern Indiana REMC; Jarrett Hawhee of Southern Indiana Power; Pyne of UDWI; Ryan Chappell and Abrem Losekamp of Whitewater Valley REMC; and Kyle Blann, Chase Donaldson and Alex Schnepper of WIN Energy REMC.
In the Meter Program, graduates were: Waidus Hughes of AES; Travis Uhl of Clark County REMC; Andrew Korte of Harrison REMC; Tom Gettinger and Lance Koontz of Henry County REMC; Steve D’Esposito, Clint House, Brandon Robinson, Jeremy Ruhe, Scott Smith and Brent Stevenson of Hoosier Energy; and Eric Siebert of Whitewater Valley REMC.
Graduates in the Substation Program were Hoosier Energy’s Tony Bonham and Evan Goshorn.
The MSR Program graduates were: Thera Desmond, Jessica Kaufer, Jamie Lundy and Jessica Miller of Clark County REMC; Karen Padgett of Daviess-Martin County REMC; Craig Adams and Elizabeth Kempf of Dubois REC; Dave Satori of Harrison REMC; Heather Ferguson and Melissa True of Henry County REMC; Cynthia Frainee and Kristin Ramirez of JCREMC; Brandyn Weaver of RushShelby Energy; Sara Waggoner of South Central Indiana REMC; Stacie Keppel, Robin Monday and Steven Sieverding of Southeastern Indiana REMC; Andy Sommer of Southern Indiana Power; and Jessica Brown and Stacy Henry of UDWI.
The inaugural Fiber Program featured graduates Paul Trenkamp of Decatur County REMC, as well as Aaron Allen and Tyler Wright of Southeastern Indiana REMC.