Eighteen students — including several from Stokes County — recently graduated from Surry Community College’s Truck Driver Training Program at the Yadkin Center.
The graduates include Mark Mabe Sr. and Isaac Midkiff of King; John White of Walnut Cove; Tyler Hanger Wilson of Pinnacle; Autumn Hunter and Terry King of Mount Airy; Austin Simpson of Pilot Mountain; Juan Lira Negrete of Dobson; Sherry Hawks of State Road; David Gross of East Bend; Daniel Mathis of Roaring River; Nick Kelly of Boonville; Mark Mabe Jr. of Tobaccoville; Nathanal Eaton and Lena Reins of Wilkesboro; Matthew Martinez of Winston-Salem; Carson Phillips and Ian Smith of Yadkinville.
Surry Community College will be offering another section of Truck Driver Training starting this fall. The class will run from Tuesday, Oct. 11 through Friday, Dec. 16 and will meet from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
College officials said that median pay for truck drivers is $47,100 per year, according to the United States Department of Labor. “Drivers with experience can make more than $50,000,” the college said.
“With a shortage of up to 12,000 truck drivers in North Carolina and as many as 200,000 nationally, CDL-certified drivers will easily be able to find jobs. The U.S. Department of Labor says the profession is expected to keep growing – by 6% during 2020-2030,” the school’s statement said.
“There are currently job openings for truck drivers locally and nationally. We developed this program as a direct response to the requests from local truck driving representatives who need skilled applicants to fill job vacancies,” said SCC President Dr. David Shockley.
The SCC Truck Driver Training Program teaches proper driving procedures, safe driver responsibility, commercial motor vehicle laws and regulations, and the basic principles and practices for operating commercial vehicles. The coursework includes motor vehicle laws and regulations, map reading, vehicle maintenance, safety procedures, daily logs, defensive driving, freight handling, security and fire protection.
Highway driving training exercises and classroom lectures are used to develop the students’ knowledge and skills. Graduates are qualified to take the Commercial Driver’s License Test and are employable by commercial trucking firms. They may also become owner-operators and work as private contract haulers.
Admission requirements include official driving record; physical examination; reading placement test score of 40 or higher; disclosure form; high school transcript; and drug testing.
For more information about the driver training program, contact the Yadkin Center at 336-386-3580. The tuition is $1,876, though some may qualify for tuition scholarship. To check eligibility, visit www.surry.edu/funding.
Source: https://www.mtairynews.com
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