Eighteen-year-old Ethan Lambert of Chapel Hill relocated to Hamlet to be a student in Richmond Community College’s Electric Utility Substation and Relay Technology program.
Courtesy photo | RichmondCC
HAMLET — Ethan Lambert, 18, knew he didn’t want to attend a four-year college after high school. He believed he could find a program that would prepare him for a high-paying career in less time — and without a mountain of college debt.
That’s when he connected with a graduate of Richmond Community College’s Electric Utility Substation and Relay Technology (EUSRT) program on the discussion platform Reddit. In response to Lambert’s question about how the program compared with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering, the Reddit user wrote, “RCC cuts out a lot of the fluff and gives you theory and hands-on experience to do the job but know what’s going on as well. You usually have a job lined up before you graduate, and you can step immediately into a relay tech position in half the time.”
That was music to Lambert’s ears. He also liked the idea of working in a field that plays a critical role in maintaining the nation’s power grid.
After graduating from Cary Christian School this spring, Lambert enrolled in the substation program for the fall semester and rented an apartment in Hamlet after moving from Chapel Hill.
“I’m loving it more than I expected,” he said, now nearly a full semester into the program. “There’s no other program like it in the country, with this model substation and millions of dollars in equipment.”
Lambert also received the 2025 William Noah King Memorial Scholarship.
“This scholarship has helped my family pay for my expenses for the next two years that I’ll be in this program,” he said. “My parents are paying for the house I’m renting and my tuition. This scholarship has greatly helped them continue to support me.”
About the EUSRT program
The Electric Utility Substation and Relay Technology program provides students with the skills to maintain high-voltage equipment and protective systems for the electric utility transmission system. Students also learn to operate and maintain critical infrastructure associated with the electric transmission grid.
Since its inception in 2011, the program has drawn students from across the United States, including Georgia, South Carolina, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin.
The program has gained international attention from industry leaders such as Camlin Energy and Siemens Energy. Richmond Community College hosts two career fairs each year, in spring and fall, that attract more than 20 companies to campus to recruit EUSRT students. Graduates have accepted jobs as far away as Hawaii and Alaska.
Richmond Community College is enrolling new students in the EUSRT program for the spring semester. Classes begin Jan. 9. Applications are free and available at richmondcc.edu/admissions. For more information or to schedule a tour, call (910) 410-1700.