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it isn’t just a single program? There are lots of pathways, and they’re all con- nected. So if you want to start in high school with this, you could leave high school with skills to go get a job, but if you wanted to go further, you could go to a two-year college or to UCA for that next-level of logistics education.” Everyone has to start at the bot-


tom, but it has to be communicated to potential employees that there is a viable career here. “It is a career lat- tice,” Calhoun borrows the term from Arrants. “There are opportunities to move horizontally, vertically, however you want to move, assuming the drive, motivation, and skills are present.” That education has to start early


because trucking has a reputation as a second choice career. When young students are asked what they want to be when they grow up, “I want to work on trucks” or “I want to drive trucks” is not a common response. The North Little Rock School


District is trying to change that. On Oct. 20, the Charter Authorizing Panel will make a decision about NLRSD’s proposal to open a conversion charter school named the North Little Rock High School Center of Excellence. The school would focus on giving students the ability to embark on STEM careers which are projected to have a nation- wide shortage of over 4.5 million jobs in the manufacturing, health care, transportation, distribution and logis- tics industries in the next five years. If approved by the state board, the charter would open its doors in August 2017. NLRSD had already formed an


industry review board specifically for transportation, distribution and logis- tics so that they can have industry input on the ground floor of the program. That review board includes representa- tives from Maverick, Entergy, Walmart, Tyson Foods, Purkeys Fleet Electric, PAM Transport, Northwest Technical Institute, Arkansas State University- Newport, Truck Centers of Arkansas, Pulaski Technical College and the Arkansas Trucking Association. Christie Toland, the director of col-


ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 5 2016


“COLLECTIVELY WE HAVE THE ABILITY TO GATHER A


LOT OF IMPORTANT INDUSTRY VOICES TOGETHER. IF WE CAN DO THAT AND COME TO A CONSENSUS ON WHAT WE TRULY NEED, THEN MAYBE WE HAVE A CHANCE OF HAVING AN IMPACT ON THE END PRODUCT.”


—KENNETH CALHOUN, THE VICE PRESIDENT OF CUSTOMER RELATIONS FOR TRUCK CENTERS OF ARKANSAS


lege and career readiness at NLRSD says that 73 students have already enrolled in a pilot course for the transportation curriculum. “It is an overview of the entire


trucking industry,” Toland said. “The distribution, logistics, and the techni- cian part of it. They get a lot of soft skill introductions, a lot of industry reading and math, tool identification, basic safety instructions. They will leave the class with an OSHA 10 certification if they pass that exam.” The charter school will enroll stu-


dents in 9th–12th grades who have an interest in one of the industry-specific careers. For Toland, matching instruction


to workplace realities is an on-going conversation. “We need collaboration. We can create the curriculum and implement it from the educator’s side of it, but what we need is your exper- tise. What is relevant to industry? We understand that those needs change, and they change rapidly, so we need continual communication about those changes so we can remain relevant.” Younger students got a taste of


the opportunities in trucking this fall as well. Eighth graders in North Little Rock Middle School’s career develop- ment classes heard speakers from the trucking industry talk about different jobs available. “This year, we are focusing on the


trucking industry, so our students can understand what is available to them


in the future and also in prepara- tion of the opening of the Center of Excellence” Toland continued. ATA president Shannon Newton


presented facts about the size and impact of the industry when she was invited to speak. Students were eager to volunteer to be part of an illustration of how many 8th graders it takes to mea- sure a tractor trailer (14 fingertip-to- fingertip, in case you were wondering). David O’Neal, the director of


safety services, has made his fair-share of school stops as well, accompanying the Arkansas Road Team on Share the Road presentations around the states. The students often ask about the job of a driver. “How much do you make?” “What do you haul?” “What is your CB handle?” “How far can you drive in one day?” Share the Road visits around the


state are a vehicle for safety presenta- tions, but they have also proven to be an opportunity to showcase trucking role models to younger audiences rais- ing awareness of the trucking career lat- tice whether it’s driving, maintaining or routing trucks. These audiences see that these jobs exist and the industry needs smart, capable, passionate people at the wheel, under the hood, behind the computers who make complex logistical systems work. “Trucking has really come to the


table,” said Sen. English. And that’s the consensus. The earlier the industry is involved in education, the better. ATR


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