Truckee Donner Public Utility District

TDPUD’s Charging Futures Forward initiative focuses on supporting students in our service territory. We participate in programs at every age level of our school district, starting with our elementary school field trips all the way up to providing scholarships to local students interested in pursuing college, trade school or vocational certifications. Read on to learn about some of the work we do with our local youth.

Interested in partnering with TDPUD for your school or community program? Contact Jillian Steward, Director of HR & Risk, at jillian@tdpud.org.

TDPUD Future Workforce Scholarship Program

In 2025, Truckee Donner Public Utility District launched the TDPUD Future Workforce Scholarship Program. These scholarships target both college-bound high school seniors and local students interested in pursuing the trade and vocational skills that make electric and water utilities function.

The electric and water utility sectors have experienced dramatic changes over the last few decades, driven by technology, the environment, and customer expectations. The need to recruit and retain top-level talents remains critical to achieving TDPUD's mission. While TDPUD's challenges are somewhat unique to our community, almost every electric and water utility in California and beyond face challenges in the recruitment and retention of top talent. This new scholarship program is an important investment in the future workforce and TDPUD’s continued ability to serve the community.

To be eligible for a TDPUD scholarship, the applicant must live within the TDPUD’s service territory and be a TDPUD customer or a dependent of a customer. The scholarship will be administered by the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation. Scholarship applicants must meet the requirements of the TTCF scholarship application process and timelines. The TDPUD is also requiring a short, written response sharing how they will use their degree or certification to benefit the community, in the tradition of public utilities. Additional details include:

Annual College Scholarships:

• One four-year technical degree award for $2,500/ per year ($10,000 total). The award will be for the total amount, but paid annually. The applicant must be accepted into and attend an accredited four-year college/university within the fields of engineering, computer science, information technology, environmental sciences, arborist/forestry or hydrology (or equivalent).
• One two or four-year degree award for $2,500 per year ($5,000 - $10,000 total). The award will be for the total amount but paid annually. The applicant must be accepted into and attend an accredited two- or four-year college/university. Degree being pursued must be in the fields of business, finance, economics, communications, marketing, HR management or public administration (or equivalent).
• This scholarship cycle, from application to award, runs from January through May.

Annual Utility Operations Workforce Scholarships:

• Two lineman school awards for $7,500 each. The applicant must be accepted into and attend an accredited lineman school, such as the Northwest Lineman College or equivalent, to become an apprentice lineman. The funds will be provided 50 percent upon award and 50 percent upon verified completion of the program.
• Three awards for utility-related certifications, up to $2,000 each. The applicant must enroll in and complete a program or certification in one of the following fields: water utility, automotive technician, construction standards, electrician, commercial driver’s license, business/finance administration, clerk, notary and certified translation.
• This scholarship cycle, from application to award, runs from May through July.

For more information and to apply to these scholarships, click to visit the Tahoe Truckee Community Foundation website.

Truckee Elementary Annual TDPUD Field Trip

Truckee Elementary 2nd graders take the long walk down the street to TDPUD every October for some educational fun with our Electric, Water and Conservation departments. We've hosted them for 3 years, and it's one of the most anticipated days of the year!

The kids rotate through three different stations, to learn about the different services we provide our community. The electric crew shows the kids how they climb poles and rappel from the line truck, and even gave all the kids a shot at raising an empty tool bag up the pole using a pulley. The water crew teaches the kids about our local water cycle, which involves mixing together Oreos, ice cream, gummy worms, and Sprite to demonstrate the different layers of our aquifer. Conservation has the kids work off all that energy from the sugar rush by playing games in our garden, like water leak tag.

Truckee North Tahoe Tech Teens

Truckee-North Tahoe Tech Teens is a seven-week series that exposes Truckee and North Tahoe high school students to various technology sectors, and highlights their practical applications in different career fields. The goal is to inspire and prepare students for diverse career opportunities in our region. It is a collaborative effort between eight local public agencies, and the students visit a different agency each week. The program is gearing up for its second year, beginning in Spring 2025.

In 2024, when the TNT Tech Teens visited TDPUD they got hands-on experience with water leak detection and SCADA technology, learned about how electricity moves through our town's electrical system via a homemade model power grid, got to see the backend of TDPUD's power outage management system, and learned about IT’s role in protecting and enabling our utilities.

Students interested in applying can find more info on the Truckee Chamber’s website. This program is a partnership between TDPUD, Truckee Chamber of Commerce, Town of Truckee, Tahoe-Truckee Unified School District, Truckee-Tahoe Airport District, Tahoe Forest Health System, California Highway Patrol and North Tahoe Fire Protection District.

TDPUD Shares Government Expertise

In March 2025, TDPUD’s PIO and Strategic Affairs Director, Steven, was invited to be on a panel of judges evaluating Tahoe Expedition Academy’s senior class advocacy projects. The panel, which included the Town Manager and Truckee Mayor, were tasked with giving feedback on the students’ advocacy idea, their plan to execute and the presentation itself. The presentations were impressive, ranging from changing the legal drinking age to protecting women’s rights, and Steven enjoyed giving feedback to the students on how their ideas might fare in the real world, rooted in his expertise in government affairs.

TDPUD Takes the Mic

In May 2025, TDPUD was asked to record an episode of Sierra Expeditionary Learning School’s sixth-grade class podcast, “Kids Talk Climate.” The class is studying the physical and earth science behind climate change, and making a series of podcasts covering the causes, impacts and solutions to the matter. They invited TDPUD’s Sustainability and Resource Strategies Senior Analyst on as a guest to talk about how public utilities can help solve climate change.

Truckee Students Create Annual Carbon Bingo Board

Every year, TDPUD celebrates Earth Day with our Carbon Bingo contest. This fun and educational competition encourages customers to take action and change their behaviors to live a more conservation-minded lifestyle. Players fill their bingo board by doing things like taking 5-minute showers or air drying laundry. The winner is announced at Truckee Clean-Up Day in June, and the prize is some kind of conservation-related equipment, like a portable induction burner or a battery power station.

Each year, local elementary school students in SWEP's sustainability clubs create all the bingo tile artwork. These talented young artists bring decarbonization to life with their illustrations of things you can do to conserve energy and water, like taking shorter showers, air drying laundry and turning off lights.

Sierra Watershed Education Partnerships (SWEP) Sustainability Clubs are offered at every school within the Tahoe Truckee Unified School District (TTUSD), providing students from elementary through high school with engaging, hands-on opportunities to become environmental leaders. In elementary schools, Green Teams empower young students to make their campuses more sustainable through interactive learning and action. Middle school students participate in Eco Action, where they deepen their environmental understanding, build civic responsibility, and promote a culture of sustainability. At the high school level, Envirolution encourages students to lead outreach and advocacy efforts, using creativity and collaboration to inspire change in their schools and communities. Learn more at www.4swep.org.

Learning the Urban Water Cycle at Alder Creek Middle School

In March 2024, TDPUD teamed up with Truckee Sanitary District and Tahoe-Truckee Sanitation Agency to visit Alder Creek Middle School to teach students about Truckee’s urban water cycle. Our Water Utility Director, Chad, taught them about where their drinking water comes from and what TDPUD does to make sure they have clean, high-quality water. They spoke to about 300 6th grade students over two days. Chad also had them all place a sticker on the water map of where their house is, to illustrate how many households we were able to reach with this program. 

Career Fairs & Classroom Visits

We connect with local high school students through career fairs and classroom visits. We attend the Truckee High School career fair every year, to talk to students about the wide variety of careers they can pursue at TDPUD. We also hire for seasonal summer positions in our water department that can be perfect for people early in their career. Our most recent Water Helper began working with us directly after graduating Truckee HS!

We have also gone to speak with seniors at Loyalton High School who were interested in learning more about utility careers. Students heard from a panel with linemen, electrician and water crew members who shared information about their jobs and how to get started in their lines of work. They got to ask questions and even check out the equipment our crews uses on the job.