Dave Dein is not the typical entrepreneurial story, but then again, who is? His previous business was getting trucking jobs for those who were recently released from prison. However, new regulations no longer permitted this, so his new project is to focus on teaching the next generation of truckers.
Thanks to those at a California High School and other trucking industry connects, Dave Dein has created the first CDL trucking course that’s not from a vocational school.
This course is available for students who are in their final year at Patterson High School. Both sections were quickly filled. Part of the class is a simulator, and each student is guaranteed at least twenty hours of time practicing with it.
Students who complete the program then have the option of working in the trucking department of Morning Star. They’ll get real-life training that will allow them to qualify for an interstate CDL. Once they get the license, the students can then stay working with the company for the summer. The company offers either twelve thousand dollars towards the students future college education, or a position in the department.
Interestingly enough, Dave Dein paid for college by doing this very trucking job for Morning Star. This emphasizes the amount of passion he has for this program, as it hits close to home.
In order to create the program, Dein says they did a trial run the previous year in a more advanced driver’s education type of class. Based on this experience, Dave Dein has found that the best way to teach students is to give them experience on the simulator to get used to a complex transmission and the unique shifting style. Once they master this, more challenging driving scenarios are introduced.
Dein hopes this can become a national phenomenon. The way he sees it, there are twenty-six thousand public high schools in the country. If 10 students from each went into trucking, there’d be over a quarter of a million new drivers. And not just any new drivers, ones that are well trained, and know safety protocols and efficiency operations.
And this could be very helpful for students too. Blue collar jobs are often overlooked, with many high school graduates going straight to college. This floods the job markets for many traditional, white collar positions – leaving trucking jobs in great demand.
https://www.overdriveonline.com/patterson-calif-instructor-dave-dein-bringing-trucking-to-high-school-curriculum/