MERCER, Pa. – Shenango Valley trucking and transportation companies need drivers, and Mercer County Career Center is answering the call.

Through a Tionesta, Pa., company, the career center is offering training for commercial driver’s licenses.

Penn-Northwest Development Corporation and some other transportation company representatives approached the career center about the need for truck drivers, said Anthony Miller, MCCC administrative director.

“They kind of charged us – if it was feasible for us – to try to put together a CDL program,” he said.

Jake Rickert, director of workforce development at Penn-Northwest, said in an email that the organization members relayed the need for CDL drivers.

“It was identified that there is a severe shortage of qualified drivers to fill the dire need in our community,” Rickert said in the email. “Additionally, there was no central CDL course for individuals to attend. Anyone interested in their CDL would have significant travel for schooling, making it difficult for individuals to upskill or enter the field altogether.”

So Aaron Kline, MCCC adult education coordinator, started researching to determine the best way for the school to help.

“It really wasn’t going to be feasible for us to run our own – staffing, cost, maintaining the vehicles,” Kline said. “It was never going to be a reality for us, so we worked to try to find an existing school to partner with. And that’s where we found CNB Wagner [Enterprises] out of Tionesta.”

The facility is about an hour and a half from Mercer, but students don’t have to make the drive. The course is broken into two parts. Adults take the theory portion of the course online, which prepares them to pass the test to secure their permit. For the driver training piece, an instructor from CNB Wagner provides one-on-one training at MCCC eight hours per day for five days.

CNB was in the early stages of working with the Crawford County Career Center when Kline learned about it. He talked to people at that school who gave it high marks.

“They said they were looking to expand into different counties so – perfect,” Kline said. “We made the phone call and started rolling.”

Meeting the Need

The program was approved last September.

So far, six students have completed the course at MCCC, and eight students are in the process.

Rickert believes it will meet the need.

“This CDL program will be tremendously helpful in connecting individuals with the skills and education needed to earn good, family-sustaining wages,” he said in the email. “What I love about the course is the flexibility. The hybrid delivery of this program works perfectly around most people’s schedules and responsibilities. I believe this will provide an opportunity to young men and women interested in the field, as well as dislocated or underemployed individuals who want to improve their quality of life.” 

MCCC is approved for funding through the Pennsylvania Workforce and Opportunities Act, so students who qualify for funding through it go through West Central Workforce Development Board – Pa Career Link, which pays the cost of tuition divided between MCCC and CNB. The cost for someone who doesn’t qualify for the funding is $4,625.

So far, students are learning about the program through social media and Career Link, but Miller expects as the program grows, transportation companies may refer prospective drivers to MCCC for the training.

“Obviously the demand is great enough where I think we fit nicely into helping supply certified drivers for them,” he said.

Some other CDL programs run as long as six months, and students’ training times are staggered to ensure all get what’s required.

“With this program, it’s one-on-one,” Kline said. “It’s a driver and a student. It’s a one-to-one ratio, five days a week for eight hours a day.”

The company has a trailer behind the school, and the semitruck used for training is parked in the lot. Students go through maneuvering and precheck work at the school.

“And then there’s a road course here that they’ve had to map out to get approved by the state, and they go out and do the road course,” the coordinator said.

Before looking into CDL programs, Kline didn’t know that a program with an online component was available.

“It does make it convenient because some people that are looking to change careers probably don’t have the time or the savings built up to not work for four to six weeks,” he said.

The students who have completed the program thus far have enrolled because there’s employment attached to it, Kline added. Once they leave with their license, they’re employed.

“So far, it’s been perfect for us,” Miller said. “It’s worked really well.”

Students must be at least 18 years old to enroll, but it could also fit into pathways for high school students at MCCC when they graduate from programs such as logistics and supply chain management or diesel technology, the administrative director said.

“We also expect that maybe some of our kids will probably matriculate into it as they graduate as well,” Miller said. “They’re getting to see it operating here.” 

Pictured at top: Anthony Miller, administrative director, and Aaron Kline, adult education coordinator, stand beside a truck used by adult students in the Mercer County Career Center’s CDL program.