Graduate May 2001

Truck Driver Training Program

In Ethiopia I used to drive a passenger bus, but I wanted to learn how to drive a truck to make a better living. I came to America 3 ½ years ago and since then I've gotten a 2-year degree in General Mechanics. I was doing a variety of odd jobs before I found out about Transportation Center for Excellence.  Now I make $40,000 a year driving truck and my wife is able to stay home and take care of our child. The training was high quality and I liked everything about it, it was perfect. The most important thing I learned was how to drive safely. The people were very nice. The instructors were very experienced and patient and gave me courage. They were friendly, family oriented and offered helpful advice. They joked around making the training fun. The staff treated everyone equally and were very helpful. I'm very proud to be trained at TCE. I was hired with an excellent company, Gainey Transportation, 3 days after graduation and the training helped greatly with my job. I started out driving over the road with them and now I do local and regional driving with Fleming Food Service, delivering food to convenience stores and gas stations. Truck driving is great and I'm very happy with my job. I really like the company I work for and they offer overtime and benefits such as medical, dental, vision, vacation, paid holidays, sick time and 401K.

Mesfin Bentiba