On April 28, Kaitlyn Bevins had a pretty good reason to attend a hiring event at her high school.
Students who participated would be excused from class.
For an 18-year-old just weeks away from graduation, that was reason enough.
The excuse got her through the door. What happened next may have changed the trajectory of her life.
Today, Kaitlyn is a Valve Technician with WECTEC Staffing Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of Westinghouse Electric Company. She recently successfully completed her training and is preparing for her first nuclear outage assignment in the Northeast.
Yes, she is still 18 years old.
And if you spend much time talking with Kaitlyn, you quickly realize this opportunity didn’t simply fall into her lap. She was ready for it.
“I Ain’t Scared of Anything”
Kaitlyn has been working since she was 15.
She started at Dairy Queen and, during her senior year of high school, was allowed to leave school early each day to work at the Cannonsburg Water Company and then later at the City of Ashland sewer plant.
Hard work isn’t something Kaitlyn is learning as she enters adulthood. It is already part of who she is.
That became pretty clear during her interview with WECTEC.
A recruiter asked her a straightforward question: “Are you scared of heights?”
Kaitlyn didn’t hesitate. “I ain’t scared of anything.”
That answer resonated with the WECTEC team.
But it also captures something much bigger about why this opportunity, and this partnership, makes so much sense for Eastern Kentucky.
The Workforce Was Already Here
Months before Kaitlyn walked into that hiring event, SOAR was having conversations with leaders from Westinghouse and WECTEC about Eastern Kentucky’s workforce.
In November 2025, Dr. Joshua Ball, Chief Operating Officer of Shaping Our Appalachian Region (SOAR), remembers trying to put into words what makes the region’s workers different.
“I shared the stories of our workers, specifically those who have worked in coal, natural gas, and other industries,” Ball said. “These are people who value work and value their teammates.”
Then he gave them an example. “I told them about one of our clients who was 24 years old, an on-again, off-again coal miner and a member of a mine rescue team. If the mountain caves, he runs in, not out. I told them, ‘If that’s the kind of people you want, we’ll find every one of those we can find in Eastern Kentucky.’”
That conversation centered largely on workers with experience in industries such as coal, natural gas, manufacturing, heavy equipment, fabrication, and other hands-on occupations.
Then came Kaitlyn.
She wasn’t a displaced coal miner or an industrial worker with decades of experience. She was a high school senior.
But the qualities were there: work ethic, mechanical aptitude, courage, willingness to learn, and absolutely no fear of getting her hands dirty.
WECTEC saw it, too.
And Kaitlyn’s story has helped reinforce something important: Eastern Kentucky’s potential pipeline into these careers is much broader than any one industry or generation.
Two Graduates. Two Careers.
WECTEC’s first two hires through its work with SOAR tell a remarkable story.
Kaitlyn, from Boyd County, and Ryan Hunter Moore, from Martin County, were both 18 years old when they interviewed. Both interviewed just weeks before their respective high school graduations.
Now, both are employed by WECTEC as Valve Technicians
These aren’t internships or short-term opportunities designed to give students a little experience before they figure out what comes next.
They are pathways into careers supporting the nuclear energy industry.
WECTEC employees travel to nuclear facilities to perform specialized work during scheduled outages. For young people like Kaitlyn and Ryan, that creates an opportunity to earn a strong wage, develop highly marketable technical skills, gain experience, and begin building a career almost immediately after high school.
For Eastern Kentucky, their stories also challenge an assumption we’ve heard for far too long: that young people have to permanently leave the region to find meaningful opportunity.
Kaitlyn can build a career from here.
Taking a Chance
Kaitlyn has a saying that has helped shape the way she approaches opportunities: “You can’t lose anything if you don’t have anything.”
There’s plenty of spunk behind those words, but there’s also wisdom.
She took a chance.
She walked into a hiring event without knowing where it would lead. She interviewed. She accepted an opportunity that would require training, travel, responsibility, and a willingness to step far outside what most people expect from an 18-year-old.
Now, she is preparing to travel to the Northeast for her first outage assignment.
She’s excited and ready to continue writing her story.
While Kaitlyn remains every bit as fearless as the young woman who told a recruiter she wasn’t afraid of anything, she also understands the magnitude of the opportunity in front of her.
She isn’t taking it for granted. And she isn’t doing it alone.
Connecting People to Opportunity
Kaitlyn’s story is ultimately about her willingness to work and her courage to take a chance.
But it is also an example of what can happen when employers, educators, workforce organizations, and community partners build a system around people who are ready for an opportunity.
Through the EKY Talent Network, SOAR works across its 54-county footprint to connect Eastern Kentuckians with meaningful employment opportunities and employers with the talent they need.
That work doesn’t end when someone fills out an application.
Sometimes getting a job is only part of the challenge. Transportation, equipment, travel expenses, and other barriers can stand between a qualified worker and a life-changing opportunity.
That’s where another part of SOAR’s work comes into Kaitlyn’s story.
Through EKY Runway, SOAR is providing more intensive workforce and talent support across 12 Eastern Kentucky counties, helping individuals navigate barriers that can prevent them from successfully entering, returning to, or remaining in the workforce.
With support from Coalfield Development, SOAR has been able to provide additional assistance to help Kaitlyn make the transition from high school student to traveling nuclear worker with confidence.
“Removing barriers is part of what we do, and in this case, it has helped make this a transition Kaitlyn can make with confidence,” Ball said. “But this isn’t just about providing support or connecting her to an employer. It’s about being beside her as a mentor and a friend.
“We’re proud of Kaitlyn. Her bravery to step out and take a chance has opened a door that countless other Eastern Kentuckians can now walk through.”
That’s what meaningful employment can do. And that’s why the work surrounding the job matters, too.
Taking Opportunity to the Talent
The door Kaitlyn walked through didn’t open by accident.
Denise Isaac, Director of SOAR’s EKY Talent Network, began working earlier this year to strengthen connections with high schools and regional Area Technology Centers in hopes of creating a direct pipeline between young Eastern Kentuckians and employers such as WECTEC.
For Isaac, a retired educator and school administrator, the opportunity was obvious.
Eastern Kentucky has young people graduating with technical skills, mechanical aptitude, and a willingness to work. Employers have jobs that require those very qualities.
The challenge is making sure the two find each other.
Instead of waiting for a young person to stumble across an opportunity online, why not take the employer directly to them?
That persistence helped put WECTEC inside Kaitlyn’s school on April 28.
An 18-year-old who initially had a pretty good excuse to get out of class walked through the door.
The rest is becoming quite a story.
Who Is the Next Kaitlyn?
That’s the question we’re asking now.
- Maybe you recently graduated from high school or an Area Technology Center.
- Maybe you completed a program at a community or technical college, took welding, machining, industrial maintenance, or other technical courses, or simply grew up working with your hands.
- Maybe you’ve spent years in coal, natural gas, manufacturing, timber, steel, construction, heavy equipment, fabrication, or another hands-on industry and are looking for what comes next.
- Maybe you’re displaced from a job and wondering whether the skills you’ve spent years developing translate to another industry.
- Or maybe you’re a lot like Kaitlyn: mechanically inclined, willing to learn, willing to travel, and not afraid of hard work.
WECTEC wants to meet you and potentially hire you.
WECTEC is recruiting Eastern Kentucky workers for multiple positions supporting nuclear outage work. These travel-based careers offer an opportunity to take skills that already exist across our region and apply them in an industry with significant opportunities for growth.
And we’ve tried to make understanding those opportunities simple.
SOAR has put together a guide outlining the jobs available, what the work looks like, the qualifications WECTEC is seeking, and how experience common across Eastern Kentucky can translate into nuclear outage work.
WECTEC’s next Eastern Kentucky Hiring Event is October 7.
And here’s something important: In-person interviews will be conducted in Hazard, but virtual interviews are also available, opening the opportunity to candidates from across the region.
Think about the skills you already have.
And maybe take a chance. Kaitlyn did.
On April 28, she walked into a hiring event partly because it got her excused from class.
A few months later, at 18 years old, she is a trained Valve Technician preparing for her first nuclear outage assignment.
You don’t have to have Kaitlyn’s story. But you could be the next person whose story begins with an opportunity you almost didn’t take.
Sometimes, changing your life starts with simply walking through the door.
Opportunity is knocking. Will you answer?