Carolina Sunrock Provides Concrete Truck To VGCC Commercial Driver’s Course
Vance-Granville Community College’s Commercial Driver’s Course received a big boost from Carolina Sunrock Corp. June 2 when the Butner-based company provided a concrete mixer truck for driver training.
The course began May 8 with three weeks of classroom instruction to prepare students to operate tandem-axle dump trucks and concrete mixer vehicles, as well as vehicles to carry 15 or more passengers. Vance County Schools is providing the use of a bus for the passenger-driver training.
Included in the instruction are driver safety, transporting cargo and passengers, air brakes, combination vehicles, and handling hazardous materials. Classes are being held at VGCC on Saturdays for eight weeks.
There are 18 students enrolled in the first class, and more than 30 others are on a waiting list for future classes, according to Garland Elliott, Economic Development Services at Vance-Granville. There is a need in this area for several hundred operators of these specialty-type vehicles, said Bryan Pfohl, Carolina Sunrock president.
After completing the classroom training and passing a written test to obtain a Department of Motor Vehicles Class B commercial driver’s permit, students began hands-on driver training May 29 in the Vance County Schools bus and in the concrete mixer.
Robinette Fischer is conducting the classroom training for the course. She is a training consultant with Capital Area Training Services and is a former DMC trainer and examiner. Michael Tingen, production manager for Carolina Sunrock, is the driving instructor.
The first commercial driver’s class will conclude June 26. Vance-Granville plans to begin a new class which will run September 11 through November 13, and those who successfully complete it will be eligible to take DMV driving tests for Class B and Class C commercial licenses.
Garland Elliott said this course is an opportunity for displaced workers in the area to train for a new career, which starts drivers at $10 to $14 per hour, plus company benefits. Persons interested in enrolling for the August and October classes should call Elliott at Vance-Granville Community College at (252) 738-3288.
Bryan Pfohl, president of Carolina Sunrock of Butner, presents the keys to a concrete mixer truck to Robert A. Miller, president of Vance-Granville Community College, for driver training in college’s Commercial Driver’s License preparation course. On hand for the presentation are, from left, Granville County Commissioner Pete Averette, Pfohl, Miller, Granville County Commissioner Hubert Gooch, and Garland Elliott, VGCC Economic Development Services director.
