WICOMICO COUNTY - Wor-Wic Community College is offering a new Heavy Equipment Training course. At the dig-site in Fruitland, students work hands-on with equipment including bulldozers.
After receiving a $105,000 grant from the Maryland Works for Wind Program, Wor-Wic Community College is putting 24 students through the course, over three, ten-week periods. A local company, AJK Hauling, is supplying instructors and equipment for the course. This course differs from similar training because of the use of actual equipment instead of a simulator. Laura Williams is an instructor and says the students in this pilot course are getting ready to launch their careers.
“We’re not having them start at the bottom of the totem pool with basic equipment operations,” said Williams. “We’re teaching them how to read site plans, benchmarks, engineer rules, so they can be able to scale the site plans.”
The students in the first class session are already in their sixth week of training. Student, Tre Byrd, has a job in construction, but says he is taking this class to put him further ahead.
“It’s a difference between working with it and being a complete operator,” said Byrd. “You come here and you learn the ins and outs of everything.”
He explained to WBOC that this course challenges its students and pushes them to really learn the rules of this equipment. The course supplies students with 180 training hours and a certificate of completion, which organizers say puts these students in a good position for construction jobs.
“You have to be really dedicated to it,” said Byrd. “They just don’t allow you to pass the class. You have to work for it.”
Organizers say applicants for the course must be at least 16 years old and have a valid drivers license to be considered. At the end of the course, four recruiter companies will speak with the students about potential jobs in their field.