Powering education: Donation sparks opportunity at Bismarck State College

The energy industry plays an important role in the economy by providing thousands of jobs across Basin Electric’s nine-state service territory. As the energy landscape evolves and electricity demands rise nationwide, the need for skilled professionals remains critical.

At the Bismarck State College (BSC) National Energy Center of Excellence (NECE), located in Bismarck, North Dakota, students get the education and training necessary to meet the needs of this ever-growing industry both in North Dakota and across the country. 

The NECE at BSC offers a wide range of in-demand, hands-on energy programs including everything from Power Generation Technology to a Lineworker program.  

Basin Electric understands the importance of these programs and works hard to foster relationships and provide support for them, which is why Professor Howell Flowers, associate professor of Automation, Energy, and Advanced Technologies, was thrilled to find out Basin Electric was donating a breaker to the college. 

Flowers, who worked for Antelope Valley Station and Leland Olds Station for nearly 36 years in the operations department before leaving in 2013, took his class up to Antelope Valley Station about a year ago. “Justin Feil was kind enough to bring my class into a training room and run them through a 30-minute training on a breaker,” Flowers says. 

Afterwards, Flowers says he gave Feil, Basin Electric training coordinator at Antelope Valley Station and Leland Olds Station, a call to see if it would be possible for him to put something similar together for his students. 

“I checked Antelope Valley Station and Leland Olds Station to see if we had a spare breaker,” Feil says. “Cory Bryngelson, plant manager at Antelope Valley Station and Leland Olds Station, said we could make it work and thought it sounded like a great idea.” 

Arnie Kraft, electrician I at Leland Olds Station, and Nick Graf, electrician II at Leland Olds Station, gained access to an unusable and rusted breaker sitting in a dark corner of the shop. They cleaned off the dirt and cobwebs, took it all apart, and cleaned and greased it until it looked brand new. From there, they built a cart for the breaker to sit on, which helped with transportation and storage. On March 6, 2025, Feil delivered the breaker to BSC. 

When Flowers’ students heard about the donation, they were excited. “We like to get students into the labs as much as possible,” Flowers says. “This allows for hands-on training and gets them introduced to the actual equipment they will operate once they get into a facility.”

Flowers says the breaker will be used across several programs including Safety, Electrical Fundamentals, and Generator Technology. Having worked on a similar breaker during his years at Leland Olds Station, he says he’s planning to put together a training module specific to the breaker. “I’ll refamiliarize myself with the breaker and how it works and get started on a training module right away,” he says.  

Donations like this help to strengthen the relationship between Basin Electric and BSC, and ensure students are getting hand-on learning relevant to what they’ll be doing after they graduate. Flowers says this relationship is critical when it comes to workforce development. “Basin Electric is a great partner and sits on our industry advisory committee,” he says. “We meet 2-3 times a year and share ideas on what we can put together for our classrooms so when students graduate, they’re ready to start working.”

“Basin Electric is a key partner in the success of BSC’s programs,” Alicia Uhde, dean of Automation, Energy, and Advanced Technologies, says. “Their support—through donations, scholarships, job shadowing, internships, and employment opportunities—has been invaluable.”