Page 97 - South Mississippi Living - September, 2021

presented by South Mississippi Living magazine
Kate Szkolnik, PMP Transmission Lines Supervisor
MISSISSIPPI POWER
1.800.532.1502
www.mississippipower.com
By Jeff Shepard
In her role as Transmission Lines Supervisor at Mississippi Power, Kate Szkolnik serves on the team that helps power our lives. She oversees the design and construction of transmission lines – the high voltage powerlines that
carry electricity from a power plant to our homes and businesses. They are the backbone of the company’s power delivery system, and they’re frequently located in hard-to- reach locations in the woods or swampy areas of Coastal Mississippi.
“We are always working to build a more reliable and smarter system to deliver electricity to our customers,” Szkolnik said. “Major grid modernization projects began about 10 years ago, and they’ve already helped customers avoid approximately five million outage minutes.”
At Long Beach High School, Szkolnik became interested in Computer Engineering, as it mixed programming and engineering. While she was at the University of South Alabama, she had the opportunity to co-op with Mississippi Power, and she hasn’t looked back since.
When she’s not in her hard hat and steel-toed boots, Szkolnik loves spending time with her four children, and her first grandchild. One daughter recently got involved on the Robotics team at her middle school, potentially following in her mother’s footsteps.
Szkolnik’s career path took her to Birmingham in 2015. She returned to Coastal Mississippi and Mississippi Power in late 2019. She enjoys mentoring young females that are interested in STEM classes but aren’t sure of the steps to take to further their studies.
“I’m a huge believer in giving back and I take every chance I can to talk with students about the flexibility that an Engineering career provides,” Szkolnik said. “I’m working
in a career that I love and adding value to the customers and communities we serve. I’m extremely blessed.”