Clark State Community College recently received a welcome surprise when Kevin W. Burch, president of Jet Express Inc., of Dayton, Ohio, and chairman of the Truckload Carriers Association, personally drove a used tractor to the school’s “practice course” and turned over the title and keys to the school for use as part of its Commercial Transportation Training Center.
“2009 has been a challenging time for all companies, industries and even for us ‘truckers’ this year,” says Burch, who obtained his commercial driver’s license last summer after taking a five-week training course at Clark State. “This is just a small way of helping the college teach our future men and women to become professional truck drivers.”
Burch hopes the publicity generated from the donation of the tractor also will help to heighten interest and awareness of the job opportunities available within the trucking industry, especially for potential drivers in the Ohio vicinity.
“This donation will enhance the CTTC program and provide the opportunity for students to be trained on a smaller student-to-instructor ratio, which will allow for more behind-the-wheel time,” says Thomas Hicswa Jr., director of Clark State’s CTTC.
Clark State Community College’s Commercial Transportation Training Center has been training entry-level drivers for class A and B CDLs for the past 21 years. CTTC currently trains between 150 and 200 students per year in a 184-hour program that covers safe driving practices, logbooks and hours of service, trip planning and more. For more information, go to www.clarkstate.edu/truck_driving.php.
