20 Capital-area high school seniors will don hard hats and other safety paraphernalia when they report for work this week at the Lansing Board of Water and Light.
The BWL will invest $90,000 in the First STEP program, a first of its kind for a Michigan utility. BWL hopes to lure some of the youngsters back for full-time entry jobs. 
The students will earn $10 per hour, working five days, three hours each. The other half day, they will attend school. Each will be constantly accompanied by a mentor while at work.
Nearly 120 students applied for the positions, writing essays and filing resumes. The pool was narrowed with the help of Capital Area Michigan Works.
The final students come from across the area: 12 from Lansing schools, two each from Charlotte and Grand Ledge, and one from Bath, Holt, Mason and Stockbridge. Half of the students are minorities, and four are young women.
“We have an aging workforce,” says Dallas Burdick, manager of organization development and training at BWL, and chief organizer of the First STEP program.
Over the next five years, 40 percent of the 730 BWL employees will be eligible for retirement. It is a problem reflected throughout the utility business.
“Our goal is to help the students link what they’re learning in school to how it relates to the real world,” Burdick says. “We also hope we can hire as many as 10 to stay on with us.”
He predicts the lure will be great. An entry level position can pay as much as $15 per hour plus benefits. A line worker working atop utility poles making repairs can make as much as $25 per hour or more. Students who are not hired will qualify for a $1,500 Lansing Community College scholarship.
Gretchen Cochran, Innovations & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
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