Not long ago, Shane Able was a truck driver who didn’t know what a cooperative was.

 

In the past year, that’s all changed dramatically.

 

Able graduated from the North American Lineman Training Center in McEwen, Tennessee, in August and is lining up a future he didn’t know existed a year ago.

 

“I was driving a truck but didn’t see much of a future there,” he said. “I saw something on social media about becoming a lineman and looked up training schools nearby.”

 

NALTC caught his attention, and Able realized that at the worst, he’d come out with his CDL. Instead, he found his best possible future after four years of searching, including being awarded the latest Hoosier Energy Daniel L. Schuckman and W. Eugene Roberts Memorial Scholarship.

 

Shane Able, left, receives his scholarship from Andy McComas, Institutional Director of the North American Lineman Training Center.

“Before I started school, I didn’t know what a co-op was. I knew there was an REMC here in town but didn’t know that was a co-op,” the Greensburg native said. “After the first week of school, I knew this was exactly what I wanted to do.”

 

After graduating high school in 2021, Able started out driving a truck before taking a job with the street department in the town of Westport for eight months. He then went back to driving a truck for a farm but knew he needed a change.

 

“I like to stay busy,” he said. “I don’t like sitting in an office and waiting to clock out. If I’m not doing something, I feel like my time is being wasted.

 

“Then there was driving the same old route every day. I just wanted to do something different every day. And I love hanging my hat on being the best and trying every day to be the best I can. This industry will give me that challenge.”

 

In his spare time, Able likes to work on cars. But he says that is a hobby, not a job.

 

“I’m tinkering around with a 1998 Camaro for some car shows,” he said. “My dad always taught us about cars, how to change the oil and the brakes and stuff like that. It’s great to know how to work on cars, but I’d never do it for a living.”

 

Able’s got his focus on working as a lineman for that.

 

“I want to try out travel work and see what I think,” he said. “I think I’d want to work for a co-op at some point but maybe take the contractor route to start by traveling around and meeting all kinds of people.”