SOMERSET, Ky. (LEX 18) — Inside the Lineman Tech Center at Somerset Community College, students are used to reaching new heights.
But one recent graduate breaks barriers with each climb.
"If you just power through it, it's the biggest reward I've ever gotten in my life," 20-year-old Jillian Reed told LEX 18.
She's the second woman ever to graduate from SCC's Lineman School, and she's their first female graduate to get a job in the field.
"The adrenaline rush, and the heights, it's perfect for me," she said.
Reed never thought she'd be working in the sky. Growing up in Barbourville, the teen was forced to drop out of high school after her great-grandfather died.
"In that situation, I had to become the income for the household," Reed said. "So obviously at 16-years-old, I couldn't work one full time job, so to keep up with the household, I had to work a first shift job, a second shift job, and a weekend job."
But she says that determination prepared her to graduate the eight-week program.
"Being a dropout I never thought I would, and then when I got here, I never felt more like I was in the right place at the right time," she said.
Female linemen are uncommon; online estimates show five to six percent are women.
But Reed's instructors at SCC say they never doubted her, even if some classmates did.
"It was no big deal," said staff instructor Tracy Hopper. "No sweat, no worries, it was just really regular. I hate to be boring, but it was just regular."
What's not-so-regular? Reed's high-octane hobbies.
She's a Harley technician, volunteer firefighter, and a bull rider.
Now that she's graduated from lineman training, Reed wants to travel the country with the rodeo while pursuing her career.
She starts her job later this month, but she's already made her mark here.
"It means a lot to the little girl in me, who wanted to do all these cool things, and people told me I couldn't," she said. "Look at me now, I'm doing it."
