A Wylie graduate comes full circle, helping today’s students explore careers in the electrical industry.

Jared Asbill talks with WHS students

Sometimes the best career advice comes from someone who once sat in the same classrooms.

AEP Texas employees Jared Asbill and Shaun Mccleese recently visited Wylie High School to speak with students enrolled in construction and electrical courses. For Asbill, a Wylie High School graduate, the visit was especially meaningful.

“We didn’t have classes like this when I was there and I really wish we would have,” Asbill said. “I was excited when he asked me to come speak to them because I got the opportunity to do something I wish someone would have done for me when I was that age.”

During the visit, students learned how electricity makes its way from the power system to their homes, along with the training required to become a lineworker. Asbill and Mccleese also showed students some of the personal protective equipment lineworkers use each day.

The conversation quickly turned practical. Students asked about education, training, salaries, health benefits and what life on the job is really like.

“It’s pretty cool seeing kids that young already wanting to become linemen,” Asbill said. “For me, it really was a full-circle moment. If I can help educate these kids on what we do, what the job is really like, and how fulfilling a career as a lineman can be, then I’m all for it.”

For Wylie students, the visit was more than a lesson about electricity. It was a reminder that the person standing at the front of the classroom once sat on the other side of it.

And sometimes, seeing where a former Bulldog’s path can lead makes the future feel a little closer.

Article information contributed by AEP Texas and originally published by AEPTexas.com on September 8, 2026.