Roll Out the Bulldozers.

Cunningham, Stephen

The conventional wisdom said starting a heavy equipment operation course for high school students was impossible. But effort, determination and community involvement made it happen.

In the fall of 1999, Prosser School of Technology, an area vocational center in New Albany, Ind., started its first heavy equipment operation program. The program, endorsed by 11 area superintendents, has grown into an exemplary one that can fulfill the community's need for trained operators of heavy construction equipment.

Through classroom and practical experiences, students receive training and practice in several heavy equipment occupations. The two-year curriculum includes heavy equipment maintenance, Commercial Driver's License preparation, as well as a national heavy equipment operators certification curriculum produced by the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). By using ABC's 450-hour training curriculum, students may earn national certification. A variety of equipment such as bulldozers, backhoes, front-end loaders, dump trucks, trackhoes, graders, and so forth are being used for hands-on instruction. Each student is expected to get about 200 hours of seat time operating equipment during the program. The equipment operation training includes not only the hands-on work, but also instruction on sewers, water lines, roads, building-site preparations and other excavating project installations.

When not operating equipment, students assist with grade measurements and other necessary tasks on the construction site. Students are evaluated on both what they know and what they can do.

How the program developed

We knew from the outset, three years ago, that a heavy equipment course would be expensive and would require classroom and working space not available within the existing building and site. And, as with other new programs, we encountered resistance from faculty members who viewed it as a threat to their programs because they had declining enrollments. But our small local advisory committee--made up of employers and school personnel--overcame the obstacles by documenting requests from prospective students and employers and by securing the support of area businesses.

The program began to take shape in the fall of 1996, when three local contractors attended a Prosser meeting to generate ideas for recruitment of students from our local Catholic high school. After this meeting, they approached me with the idea of starting an equipment operations program. They emphasized the need and the high-wage opportunities for heavy equipment operators. While confirming their information on local and national needs, we found there is indeed a great shortage of trained operators in the United States and that our students could be making $18 to $25 per hour within three to five years after completing the program. We surveyed potential students and identified a great deal of interest, especially from our rural high schools. With this information in hand, we formed an advisory committee to identify a curriculum, find a training site (facility), and solve the problem of locating equipment. We had no budget or money available to start the program.

After reviewing several postsecondary curriculums in heavy equipment operation, the committee chose the one from Associated Builders and Contractors. Our local ABC chapter initially planned to purchase the books and curriculum for us, then later found they could not do so. The solution to this obstacle was to secure Perkins III grant money to buy the curriculum materials.

We then located a small classroom, which was being used for storage, in a local school's transportation facility, and planned to use the 25 acres behind that classroom building to operate equipment. A few local employers agreed to supply us with equipment. Some of the employers assisted me in presenting the program plan to superintendents of the school districts in southern Indiana, and they approved our plan. Before we could implement the plan, however, our operation site was designated for soccer fields.

During this time period, our enrollment was phenomenal--36 students signed up for the new program. We divided them into two groups, 18 in morning classes and 18 in afternoon classes. This was both good and bad! We has just one teacher and two cars for teaching the commercial driver's education course to 18 students at a time. Our dilemma was now too many students and not enough teachers and equipment. We also realized how difficult it was going to be to locate an instructor with the experience we needed.

As the beginning of school approached in 1999, we hired an excellent teacher, Doug Sabens, who was operating his own excavating business. We were fortunate that he was experienced on all types of equipment and set very high performance standards for the students.

Community and employer assistance

Fortunately, other parts of the program began to fall into place as we received help in overcoming the obstacles. Another employer stepped forward and made us an offer: He had 100 acres he would let us use to operate equipment and would furnish the materials for building a classroom/lab training facility if we supplied the labor. We agreed to have students in our building trades program build the training facility. Those things we could not do in-house, the employer would subcontract to an outside contractor. This solved our classroom/lab problem, and the building is now under construction. Students in the heavy equipment class have completed the site preparation and have poured the footers for the new training facility.

A third employer recommended that we call a meeting of all the excavating companies and equipment dealers in the area to request their help. Our primary purpose was to seek donations of equipment and schedule its use for every school day of the year. We also asked for guest speakers, equipment training programs, field trips to equipment companies, site locations to visit, construction jobs for students to do, volunteers to be mentors for our students, and cash donations. We explained our needs to the companies and dealers and indicated that we had to find solutions.

It was a phenomenal meeting! The local equipment dealers did not want the excavating companies to donate equipment, so each of the dealers signed our calendar, indicating they would make available a small bulldozer, backhoe and front-end loader every day school was in session. This equipment has been there every day. In fact, some of the local contractors bring in additional equipment, so some days we have five or six pieces of equipment to operate. The advisory committee believes there is no substitute for in-seat, hands-on training in equipment operation.

That meeting also generated more than $5,000 in cash donations, as well as opportunities for field trips and guest speakers. The contractors have located many real jobs for our classes, such as installing 180 feet of storm drainage pipe, preparing a building site, excavating a catch basin, building a burme, breaking up and moving large piles of dirt, and grading of fill sites. We have a road project with sewer installation and a clearing project in the works.

We believe actual work, not simulated work, is important to add realism to the training. During the program's development, we started a newsletter to keep employers and other interested parties informed. Each issue includes a request for training sites where students can do real work. The notice also says, "We may be able to bring our equipment, as well as using yours, to work on construction projects. Remember, our instructor will act as your foreman, and we have had no complaints concerning quality! School insurance covers our instructor and students."

The contractors providing these projects are amazed at our student's skill attainments and the thoroughness with which we have completed our projects. In fact, five or six students already have developed sufficient skills to be employable.

A good outlook for the future

Our future lies in the support of advisory committee members who will evaluate our program and its products (the graduates). Next year we plan to add a track hoe, large bulldozers, dump trucks and a grader to our heavy equipment training. We also plan to complete and move into our new training facility during 2001. We are sure that additional obstacles will come up. But as long as the advisory committee and school personnel work as a team, our obstacles will become opportunities for positive program growth.

Stephen Cunningham, Ph.D., is director of area vocational services for Prosser School of Technology, New Albany, Ind.