VIDEO: Learning How To Do It Yourself

MAYHEW, Miss. (WCBI)- We’ve all heard the phrase ” Do it yourself” well, the East Mississippi Community College Electrical Technology Department is helping the community put the phrase into motion.

The East Mississippi Community College Electrical Technology Department is hosting it’s 2nd annual Community Day.

“We’re not trying to go and tell anyone to rewire their house. We’re just seeing some really bad practices out there from homeowners. We don’t want anybody to get hurt,”said electrical instructor Bobby Johnson.

Homeowner Terry Logan says she could be happier for the help.

“I had some issues at home. I was looking at just learning about electrical and how that works and how it would help me with what I have at home with what I need to deal with,”said Logan.

Logan attended the workshop last year.

“We learned some things with the breaker box . We learned how to change out an electrical switch. We learned how to change out a plug and a socket plug. All that is going to be something that I could use,”said Logan.

An online electrical cost guide shows the average household spends, nearly 317 dollars a year on electrician costs. Johnson says doing it yourself won’t get rid of the entire cost but it will help.

“For the homeowner they might not be able to afford to have somebody come do that and decide to do it on their own. That would save them the cost of the electrician. They’ll know what supplies to get to do the job themselves and it’s not very costly to do a simple job like that on their own,”said Johnson.

Johnson is one of the technology instructors for the seminar. He says they want to teach the skills but the most important lesson is safety.

“We don’t tell people to go in and do the wiring themselves, if they aren’t completely confident with it. We want them to have good practices if they do go in and do their own wiring. We want them to understand the safety aspect of it and how a basic switch and an outlet work,” said Johnson.

” I’m very glad I came because I learned a lot and in that short period of time the questions that I had were all answered. They had good speakers and the information was just awesome and I just think everybody could use the information,”said Logan.

Early registration for the spring opens in November. For more information email BJohnson@EastMS.edu.