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Demand for truck drivers expected to pick up

Charlie Thompson (left) training coordinator for the Clark State Community College's Truck Driver Training Institute, talks to Kevin Burch, president of the Dayton-based trucking firm Jet Express. Burch took the training course at Clark State Community College in August 2008 to obtain his commercial driver's license. Staff photo by Marshall Gorby

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By John Nolan, Staff Writer 6:31 PM Saturday, June 20, 2009

SPRINGFIELD — The Clark State Community College program that trains drivers of long-haul trucks, school buses and other commercial vehicles has seen steady demand since it started in 1987.

More than 200 students complete the 4 1/2-week course in any given year, said Charlie Thompson, who drove commercial trucks for 16 years before helping found Clark State’s program to support the region’s trucking companies.

The trucking industry’s appetite for drivers will increase as the economy recovers, said Kevin Burch, president of Dayton-based trucking company Jet Express Inc.

For people looking for a second career, earning a commercial driver’s license and sliding behind the wheel of a tractor-trailer truck just may be the ticket, Burch said. Drivers can earn $35,000 to $40,000 annually, and their bosses can be hundreds of miles away as they travel the country, he said.

“There is a profession out there for people who don’t want to be in a cubicle,” said Burch, who is a spokesman for the trucking industry as chairman of the Truckload Carriers Association. “You are the commander of the truck.”

The Clark State instructors train prospective drivers of the big rigs, dump trucks and school buses on the college’s driving course on five acres in Clark County, just north of Springfield. It is an open-enrollment program that operates year-round, said Thompson, training coordinator for what is known as the Truck Driver Training Institute.

Students learn, among other things, how to back up the big rigs in a straight line, maneuver them in narrow spaces, and parallel-park.

Burch’s trucking industry career involved rising through the ranks as a terminal manager and safety official before becoming president and part owner of Jet Express.

Because of his industry advocacy position, Burch decided he needed to obtain a commercial driver’s license so he can occasionally drive a big rig to get an understanding of a driver’s challenges. He completed the training course last summer at Clark State and obtained the license.

As a thank you for the training, Burch and Jet Express on Wednesday, June 17, donated to Clark State a used tractor. He drove the truck from Dayton to the training course, where he presented it and the title document to the program’s staff.

For more info

Web: www.clark.cc.oh.us

Phone: (937) 328-6139 or (937) 328-6101

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