Surry Community College’s Truck Driver Training program will hold an orientation on Monday, Dec. 7 at 10 a.m. at The Yadkin Center, 1001 College Drive, Yadkinville, N.C.
The next offering of Surry Community College’s Truck Driver Training classes starts Monday, Jan. 11, and runs through March 16, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Recent truck driver training graduates include: John Bowe, Hunter Nunn, Sharon Sweet, and Yovanni Soriano of Surry County. Jimmie Beaman, Ricky Prevette, Devon Prevette, Daniel Gregory, Marcus Wiles, Jason Perkins, and Benjamin Prevette of Wilkes County. Carlos Transo and William Hoosier of Yadkin County, and Allen Maine of Ashe County.
Tuition is $1,881. Median pay for truck drivers is $38,200 per year, according to the United States Department of Labor. Drivers with experience can make more than $50,000.
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.
Special admission requirements include official driving record; physical examination; reading placement test score of 40 or higher; disclosure form; high school transcript; and drug testing.
With a shortage of up to 15,000 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 11 percent during 2012-2022.
“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.
For more information about SCC’s Truck Driver Training Program, contact Forrest Lineberry at (336) 386-3244 or lineberryf@surry.edu. You may qualify for a tuition scholarship; to see if you are eligible, please visit www.surry.edu/funding.
