DCCC receives truck donation from Hardy Brothers

Published 12:00 am Thursday, December 25, 2014

Students in the truck driver training program at Davidson County Community College’s Davie Campus will soon practice driving a new tractor donated by Hardy Brothers Trucking.

The truck, a 2007 Peterbilt tractor valued at $15,000, has a 700-horsepower Caterpillar diesel engine and was originally purchased by the North Carolina-based trucking company to carry loads to the west coast and back. The truck has a new transmission, fluids and hubcaps. Hardy Brothers also covered the cost of transferring the title to the college.

“This donation helps keep our fleet more current and offers students a better understanding of the different types of equipment they may encounter when they start working,” says Corky Waugh, faculty coordinator for the DCCC truck driver training program.

“The additional equipment also keeps our operations going when a tractor breaks down or is put out of service due to mechanical issues. Most of our equipment has 500,000-plus miles and is sometimes subjected to severe abuse during student training. Equipment for this program is very expensive to maintain, but it must be kept in good mechanical order to meet federal requirements.”

Last year, Hardy Brothers donated a temperature-controlled, refrigerated 53-foot trailer to the college. The company also consistently recruits students from the college’s truck driver training program.

The demand for qualified, professionally trained drivers is growing nationwide, and jobs in the field are expected to grow by 13 percent in North Carolina within the next seven years, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Waugh says North Carolina Community College truck driver programs, including the one at Davidson County Community College, are recognized among the best training programs in the country.

The college offers the truck driver training certificate program as an eight-week course that teaches proper driving procedures, safe driver responsibility, commercial motor vehicle laws and the basic practices for operating commercial vehicles. The new truck will be used for advanced highway training during the seventh week of the class.

Graduates of the program are qualified to take the Commercial Driver’s License Exam and are employable by commercial trucking firms. They may also become owner-operators and work as private contract haulers.

For individuals who are interested in enrolling in the program, information sessions will be offered at 10 a.m. on Jan. 27, Feb. 17 and March 3 at Davidson Community College’s Davie campus.

The next classes for the spring begin on Jan. 12 and March 16. More information is available on the college’s website at https://www.davidsonccc.edu/trucking.