From Classroom to Cab: Building Careers in Trucking with Kevin Fox

In this episode, Lindsey chats with Kevin Fox from Stanislaus County Office of Education. 

Kevin shares insights into the curriculum developed in collaboration with Knorr-Bremse Global Cares Trucking foundation.  The program emphasizes character education and community building while addressing challenges such as the shortage of qualified Career and Technical Education (CTE) instructors. The curriculum, designed to be user-friendly and adaptable, includes daily updates and utilizes Google Classroom to facilitate learning in a restricted environment. Innovative teaching aids, such as model trucks and RC vehicles, were discussed to enhance hands-on learning, along with plans to incorporate a driver simulator for realistic training. The program aims to foster interest in various trucking careers, emphasizing entrepreneurship and aligning with Entry-Level Driver Training (ELDT) requirements. Key action items include implementing the driver simulator, solidifying partnerships with local trucking schools, and acquiring additional teaching aids to enrich the educational experience.

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The Next Generation in Trucking Association is a non-profit trade association who is engaging and training the next generation of trucking industry professionals by partnering with high schools, community/technical colleges and private schools to connect to and launch training programs around North America.

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Transcript

Hey, welcome to NGT Talks. I am really excited to be here today with Kevin Fox. And first of all, before we get started, we just want to thank our sponsors. And I'm going to thank our sponsors today, who in particular folk. They supported our foundation which helped us to create this curriculum. And so a huge thank you to the Knorr-Bremse Global Cares Trucking, the foundation that they are the parent company to Bendix, and they supported creating this curriculum guide so that we could start trucking programs in high schools and correctional education facilities all over the country. So thank you to Knorr Prems Global Cares, their foundation, and to Bendix and Kevin, welcome to NGT Talks. 

Thank you so much, Lindsey. It really is a pleasure to finally be here. 

Well, so I want to hear just a quick, like, update on how you decided you wanted to start a trucking program and tell us a little bit about the school that you're a part of. 

Sure, yeah. So like many things in my position, this program also kind of fell into my lap when I hit this position. Someone in my department had sort of pitched this idea. First of all, Patterson High School is just minutes away from us. So were aware of Dave Dine and the program that he was building. We watched it for a little while, super impressed. So someone in my department kind of got wind of this and started talking and said, hey, we should do this at our juvenile hall. Well, that conversation went on for about a year before I even landed in this seat. So things were kind of in motion and they, at least all the powers that be were. Were committed at that point. The problem was we had not started anything to get the program started. 

So it felt like kind of a scramble. And I knew it was going to be probably not as easy a task as implementing this into a comprehensive high school. So that said, we began our hunt for an instructor, which, again, the state of the trucking industry and how much money truckers are making right now. It is a very difficult thing to get folks out of industry and into a classroom. Like, especially with the complicated landscape of CTE credentialing and all of those things that kind of compound that, and that's across industry sectors. That's not just around transportation. So that's kind of the state of CTE in general. 

And I feel like that's important to note because the bridging here and a lot of things in this curriculum and in this program I personally see as incredibly helpful, not only in a comprehensive setting, but especially in an alt ed setting. Even more impactful, I'm finding, in a correctional setting. Because when I first was able to sort of deep dive into the curriculum working with Dave Dine at Patterson High School, I. I pretty immediately realized that this is way more than just being behind the wheel of a truck. It's way more than teaching somebody to drive. And. And so, you know, I have some experience in my career sort of on the fringes of those industries that utilize logistics and shipping and receiving and the trucking industry. I actually had an opportunity to make a documentary film about cattle haulers. 

So I spent about three weeks in the cab of several trucks moving back and forth. So I wasn't, you know, I wasn't completely without knowledge of the industry, but I knew that it was definitely more than just driving a truck is what I wanted to present to these students. And what Dave had in his curriculum, the reality is the hard skills, you know, most. Most trucking schools can teach in about three, maybe five weeks, right? You pay your money, you go in, you hit hard on the eldt, you prepare for the test, they drop you off at the dmv, and boom, you got your permit, right? And a lot those schools will guarantee that. 

So if you don't hit it, for whatever reason they didn't do their job, or you didn't do your job, they'll take you back and retool you and send you back to the dmv. And I knew pretty immediately that was not going to be impactful for these students. So I dug very deep into the curriculum and pretty immediately realized this is. This is character education. What's happening here is Dave is teaching an industry and the things that go along with an industry. And so, you know, the curriculum guide starts on building community. And so that's. That's exactly where we started. I knew I was going to have to change some things, and I knew some of the curriculum early on may not hit because of the circumstances of restrictive, you know, facility like a juvenile hall. 

But the probation staff really worked with us when were able to launch. And I got my instructor, who, by the way, is David Beechler. He is part of. Part owner in Cal Valley Trucking. And believe me, I am incredibly blessed to have this man in my classroom teaching. Because of that struggle to find a, you know, qualified CTE teacher. Dave was sort of on the line when folks in my department were talking about building this program. And it really took almost a year, really of almost a full year to actually launch the program. By the time I signed an agreement with David and then got into the curriculum, like, how am I going to pull this off? It really took almost a year. But I'll tell you what, the first day, the launch of that program was really incredible. 

Dave brought from his company one of their sort of show trucks, and we parked it in the. In the yard there at juvenile hall, and were able to bring the students out. And really that was their first and so far only experience was seeing a real. Being up close to a real live truck. But that day was really impactful. I could. I could see it in their face and the questions they were asking. And I thought, this is going to work. They're going to be into this. And so we sort of dove into the rest of the curriculum and really hit hard on that character development. For us, the ELDT component is sort of secondary, and we. The hard skills. And a lot of my students. Well, a lot, all of my students are on sort of an extended stay. 

So I really don't have any guarantee that I'm going to have that year window once they complete that training and then they have that opportunity to show up at a DMV and take their test. So we haven't sort of hit that yet. So I still don't know what that exit looks like for those students. But in the same way that Patterson is put together their program, I am aligning with sort of an adult school program so that I can sort of pass them over for behind the wheel. So I think I have that structure going on. But really, I have said we have had people come from other county offices, from other programs to kind of see what we're doing. And over and over again, I say the license and the behind the wheel is so secondary to this program. 

Because day two, the second time we meet it, or we met as a class, we immediately began talking about all the careers that are in this industry. And I am really tried very consciously to put into their head that if you want to drive a truck, that's great. There is freedom behind that. And that is a key word for them. Right? And I kind of laid it out there. I said, we. The tagline for our program is discover your drive, right? So we call it West Campus Trucking, which is the name of our juvenile hall education facility within the juvenile hall. So our tagline is discover your drive. And so as we began to talk about these other careers, I could tell that these students were sort of. 

I don't know how exactly to articulate this, but you could see that they were envisioning themselves in that role. Which is something that I don't think that they ever really took the time to do. Like I see myself here, I can be this. And then they started to put the pieces together over time. And the real blessing was having David Beechler in the classroom, who is a owner, operator, a company owner. He knows all of those little nuances to the industry and running a business that we take every opportunity to talk about. All of those support careers that go beyond being behind the wheel. Everything from insurance and the politics behind trucking to dispatchers to, you know, your yard people and your maintenance and even trainers. 

I have some of my folks in my classroom that think that see themselves being in the front of the class and teaching others. And I think that could be so impactful whatever they do in their life. So if they never ever take advantage of a class C license or a class B license, they're going to walk away with this experience. And really the leadership qualities that are embedded in this curriculum through the whole thing, they're going to take that and apply it. They will be able to apply it to nearly any career in any industry sector that they choose to be in. 

That's amazing. And I just love to hear the impact that this curriculum is having. And it's not just about driving, it's those leadership skills. And it's, and Dave always says this, but it's make. It's a well rounded program and really there's so many different skills for professional drivers. And this teaches the heart of the industry. So you all are utilizing the curriculum and this is what it looks like. And so when you pull this up, tell me what all do you look at when you started to build this for your students? 

So this curriculum guide, or ultimately what this is the teacher's guide. You could, in a comprehensive setting, comprehensive school setting, you could open this up, display it for the class and you could literally walk through every single section here and not have to do much else. Speaking from an instructor. And I say that's how easy and detailed this is put together. Literally everything that you need for every single day of every lesson is right in here with links. Not complicated, takes you step by step, even gives you some alternatives on presentation. All of that said, I am in a very restrictive setting. My in a juvenile hall. Obviously we don't want students clicking every link that comes across their computers. Sometimes they're not even allowed to have computers, you know, so we had to make some adjustments. 

Now we still use this curriculum guide in its entirety, but we use it in the background and so what I sort of had to do was now keep in mind that my instructor is not a teacher so he has zero classroom experience. So we had two meetings and I kind of told him this is how you should put together your lesson plan so that it's organized right. And what I was trying to do in that is prevent him from jumping into this and then trying to kind of walk through it knowing that if something happened it would be easy for him to get kind of lost in here. 

So I put together a Google shared Google document and I want to get into the details here because I think this sort of pass off this sort of tag team works really well and any alt ed or correctional setting could easily be used this way. So admin, listen up how this works. So my instructor puts together his lesson plan. Literally we go through this program and we copy information and put it right on our sheet and that's an easy document for him to follow. He doesn't get distracted. Students don't see things that we don't want them to see like further down the road in the curriculum and things like that. So he presents that to me on a Monday night. My classes are two days a week so we do five days of curriculum. 

So one and a half, well two and a half days I guess ish on Tuesday and then the balance of that on Thursday. And then sometimes we'll get into, we'll get an intro for next week which is right in here. When you get to the lesson 5 it will always tell you prime up your students for what's going to happen next week. So he'll give me that on an outline and then I'll go back through it and then I link the documents for our students because of a very restrictive environment in Google Classroom. And so what that does for me is it allows me to collect sort of hard copies of my documents which are downloaded right here. You can see on the screen there you have a module 3A vocabulary, flashcards. That is a Google Doc. So you would. 

I collect it, I make a copy, I stash it in my folder because sometimes I don't have any access to the Internet on in my facility and I have to have the ability to get at those documents in a different way. So I load up the Google classroom and then I schedule it all to launch that day about 8:00. Students start about 8:30. The only hiccups that have ever happened in that system is when I forget. I get busy on a Monday night or something and I forget and Mr. Beechler will text me usually in the mornings like hey, we don't have anything. And then I'll jump in and do it. And really the whole process for an entire week's worth of curriculum in order for me to load that really only takes me about 20 minutes in the morning. 

So, you know, admin, if you're listening up and this is something you might be interested in implementing, it is actually really incredibly easy to manage because like all the hard thinking like what am I going to do today? Has been taken out of this. And of course we all know teachers are probably the least prepared people in the world. And we all do it. I know all educators do it. You want to be as prepared as possible at the beginning of the school year, but you always end up preparing your lesson plans the day before. And this is put together with that in mind because Dave Dine and Patterson put this together. I'm sure that he was on that sort of forethought like what am I going to do today? 

And so as he built this curriculum, it really just lays out a step by step guide for you to follow. Even talks about what you should be discussing with your students on the eldt. There are lots of extras in there. And I will tell you one of my favorite parts of all of the curriculum is. Might be the most simplest and it is the daily updates I like preventable or not. Right. I think that is good hard skill for preparing them for, you know, things that may or may not happen. Hopefully they don't. But going to character building and sort of industry education. The industry updates that we do, the daily updates I think are the thing that keeps them connected to the industry the most. 

And I have even grabbed articles from one of the trades that is actually recommended in the curriculum. And I presented them things that are way outside the box. It's an election year. So I kind of sidetracked my students and said, hey, presidential election, who do you think is going to be the friendliest to the trucking industry? And we had a half day discussion on politics zero to do with the trucking industry really when it boiled down to it. But we engaged in this conversation with the entire class that I think was for a lot of those students really above their sort of. A lot of it was really above their sort of intellectual level. But it introduced them to so much more of the industry than I think that they ever thought was imaginable. 

I love that. And here's an example of that daily updates that you all utilize and how you utilize it. And I love it that it got you in a political discussion because every people when you're young, you don't realize how interconnected the work world is and how it is important in politics. And this brings all that together, right? 

Sure. Well, quite simply I asked them if you were a company owner or if you were an owner operator and you were running your own business, knowing what you know, like we do, right out of the daily updates, knowing what you know, out of the article that you read about the two candidates, who would you vote for if you were an owner? And really I think that these students, because of the circumstances they're in, these are things that they don't ponder, you know what I mean? But it's definitely, that is definitely something regardless of whatever industry you're in. I mean you could be a widget manufacturer. You're definitely going to be looking at how an election is going to affect your bottom line and the costs involved with it. And I think that was eye opening. 

I think a lot of those students really didn't understand that, you know, national elections affects gas prices, national elections affect things like emissions and how those are going to be regulated. And until we really dove into those conversations, I don't think they it ever crossed their mind sitting in the passenger seat of a passenger vehicle and being passed by, you know, an 18 wheeler on the road. Those things never cross their mind. But I know when they see a truck now, all of those little things are going to be considered. 

Yeah, absolutely. Well, is there anything else that you want to share in terms of the curriculum guide and how you have utilized it and how it's impacted your students? 

I would just I think reiterate it. It's easy to follow. It really is. I thought at the beginning I'm going to need a lot of support for this. I think I maybe sent Dave Dine a couple of emails and they were pretty generalized. Dave sent me right back on track and it's super easy to follow. We have been able to customize it. There are some things I just can't do. Right. I can't have a truck there on a regular basis. That's a major undertaking for us that splits probation staff. You know, of course I've got to open up the facility and or the yard to the facility to get vehicles in. And so it's a major undertaking. 

So some of the things that I would suggest that an alt ed or a correctional facility is considering, model trucks get on the diecast stuff and get a lot of them get A variety of them, because we are using those as teaching aids in the classroom. I got one to start with, to see how it would go. And I'm really treating this whole thing like a pilot program. Now. My students have said, these are great, we love it. I got one with enough detail to show the parts when they do their pre check, their DMV pre check. And we are, we just recently bought, I think I bought four more rigs and I think six more trailers. So we got a set of doubles. I got a tanker. 

That's such a good idea. 

Yeah. And then one of the other things that the students requested was again, speaking of how restrictive my environment is, one of the things they requested was they had been using the model truck to sort of practice backing, to see how the trailer angles and things like that. And so they asked for a remote control truck. So I bought the largest scale that I could get, which is pretty cool, and it's on its way. But in the end, they're going to have the opportunity to actually work RC truck. And I think that's going to give them some conceptuals about, you know, how the trailer is attached and what angles it moves when you're backing or moving forward. And I think that those things will be sufficient. 

Now, I understand I'm long winded and I appreciate your patience here, but it is things like that are built into this program where you're like, hey, I can substitute this for that, or this doesn't work for me, I'm going to omit it or I need something else. We're going to add this and it will work similar to this. So don't be discouraged. If you're an admin and you're looking at this program, you want to implement it, be open minded. You can do it. Just because you don't have a truck or can't get a truck does not mean that they're, you know, you can't run this program. In the end, there's likely going to be a period of time where they're going to need a refresher anyway. 

And I think what I'm coming to is as soon as my students exit, because there is a process for that exit, I think I'm going to immediately hand them over to sort of that trucking school that I'm building a relationship on so that they're aware of what my students are coming to the table with and then they can sort of take them across the finish line. So I think the most important thing for my program right now Is building that relationship with a local school that I know. Dave Dine is already building a relationship. Same, same. So that they have an understanding of what we're actually trying to accomplish here and not just trying to turn and burn. Drop them off at the DMV and get them licensed, you know? 

Yes. It's a holistic approach to creating the next generation of drivers. Right. It's so funny. I was at a conference and they had a couple of those RC trucks just last week. So cool. And he was like, oh, I gotta slow it down, otherwise it'll jackknife. And so it does do the things that happen on the road. You have to maneuver it and the backing skills. So I think that is absolutely transferable. And we need to say, hey, if anybody wants to donate some of those model trucks, I, you know, sometimes go into an office and they have bookcases full of model trucks. And this would be a great way they could donate it to your. Your program. So your students could see all the different types of trucks out there. 

Yeah, and I think that's key too. Like the different types of trucks. Right. You know, it sounds kind of boyish, Maybe childhood. Right. Everybody kind of a gravitated. This is a male perspective. Right. So policeman, firefighter. For me, I wanted to be a trucker. Right. So I grew up on Convoy and Smokey and the Bandit. And, you know, that was sort of my. My childhood. Right. So I did have that sort of knights of the road kind of mentality in my head about truck drivers. I know that this curriculum and the character building in this curriculum is really trying to point the industry back into that direction. And it's so important. But I knew pretty early on if I could infect. And I think that's the right word, if I could infect that sort of same kind of boyish. This is cool. 

Look how cool this is kind of thing with these students. They would get it. And so when we're seeking out these sort of classroom aids, teaching aids, these model trucks, toys. I am looking for a variety of trucks because I want them to see how things are built differently and what other features come on. A Volvo compared to a Peterbilt compared to a Kenworth, you know, and even with the trailers as they pull them, we want to be them to be able to see as much detail as possible. 

Absolutely. And some of these diecast trucks have so much detail that they'll have a tanker truck and different. The hose hookups. And you said there's doubles. I mean, there's so much that you could see and they can put their hands on. And it's that hands on learning aspect that really helps. Do you all have a driver simulator and are your, do you have plans to get one? 

So we have a simulator. It is not delivered yet. So earlier I had mentioned, at least to you, I don't know if I'd mentioned on the podcast, I am actively looking for ways to kind of slow my program down because my students really have taken to this and every, you know, every other day, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 8:30, they are diving into this and I'm like, guys, I'm, you know, it's a year long program. I'm figuring I might finish this in about six months and then what do I do? So we are looking at adding things like the strong arm. Right. The truck. We want to add that again to make it a little more robust. So our simulator hasn't been delivered yet, but I'm eager to have that delivered and get it installed. 

I do have a simulator on another campus and originally our idea in the discussion was were going to transport students over, but we found pretty immediately that was going to be with problems. Now, of course, the reason went that way is it's not our facility and it is a very expensive simulator. And I want to, I think that's an important part of the conversation for admin because we're all, we're forced to bean counters, not our facility. We didn't feel as an organization comfortable with putting a piece of equipment on that price tag. So that fell on probations and so they're going to get that. It'll belong to them. I bought one, it's at another campus. So I have experience operating that so far and I know when I can get it in place, it will definitely help those students. 

Now, the simulator, it's only a simulator. And you'll hear people say that because they've said it to me. But I have not been behind the wheel of a real truck down the road. I will tell you, being in the seat of that simulator can almost can be so realistic. It is, it will cause you dizziness because it is. The environment is so real. So I'm looking forward to that being delivered. So that one, it will help slow my program down. But then my students can really get sort of some simulated experience of the things that they've been learning in syntax on the ELDT as well. 

Absolutely. And what we've determined, I talked with somebody who is hiring 18 to 20 year old drivers right now. And he said that these drivers are really good because they play a lot of video games and have that hands on learning that they're really a lot better than some of the people that come in that don't have that video game experience. But they're coming in as an 18, 19 year old and just blowing them away with the talent that they have because of some of the different hands on video game and that simulation training that they're getting elsewhere. 

The situations or the scenarios within the simulator are, as I said, they're pretty realistic. And a lot of them are set up strategically, right. And the cool part is they align directly with the lessons. I shouldn't say lessons, I'll say scenarios within the simulator align directly with the el. So when you're doing things like hazardous road conditions or extreme driving conditions, those scenarios are built into the ATS simulator. And it's really important in making that connection with what they're learning and how to apply it. So, you know, the hands on aspect that just kind of thrives in CTE is definitely was mindfully put into this curriculum as those two merge together. 

That is great to hear. And that's what it's all about. We want to make it simple for programs like yourself to be able to start these trucking classes so you can help train your students and put them on a better path. I love what you call your program. Discover your drive in your mind. When the students saw the truck on the first day, what was, what was in their faces? 

Wow, that's a big question. The word that comes to mind is wonder. Because they really didn't know what the program was about, what it might entail, where it might take them. But I think that we're about 10 weeks in now and I can see this sort of transformation in their mind and the things they talk about in the classroom, the things they say they want to do and how they want to progress. I can definitely see a transformation in that. So hard for me to say exactly what they were thinking on that first day. But I can tell you second day community building. One of the things that you do is get to know your classroom. And we asked every student, you know, like, what do you want to be when you grow up? Kind of question. 

And many of them, well, we have one in particular in the class is quite the entrepreneur. He wants to, he wants to do several things and they're all pretty cool things. And no doubt if he puts his mind to it, he can accomplish Those. But what I've discovered Now over those 10 weeks, when we pose the same question, he'll have the same list. I want to do X, Y and Z. But now he says, I want to be a trucker. And I'm like, okay. But I think what he really wants is he wants to be the owner so that he can be involved with what he's learning about. Right. Because I think he's seeing how much it interests him. And I think really he wants to be the guy that kind of runs the truckers. 

And then light bulb, I'm like, okay, you're the entrepreneur. What you're saying is you want to own a company. And, you know, that is definitely something you can do. So, yeah, I'm excited for those kids. 

Yeah, it's, you know, he can be an owner operator, have his own truck, and then start adding other trucks onto his fleet. So that's one of the great things about the trucking industry, is it so many small businesses and small business owners in trucking, and people don't even realize that. So we want to attract the next generation. You can be a company driver, you can be a dispatcher, you can be a safety manager, you can own your own truck and be an owner operator. And there's so many opportunities. And so thank you for what you're doing to give these students an opportunity to better themselves and to come into our industry. And we want them to start a career and live a fulfilled life in the trucking industry because so many people have done it before. 

Thank you for your dedication and all you've done to create this program. 

Thank you, Lindsey. I would just like to say that being a member of NextGen Trucking and being part of this family, there has been so much support in any direction. It seems like anytime I had a question or needed some help, either you or Dave or somebody from the foundation would immediately jump in. And if I couldn't get any assistance elsewhere, you guys were super helpful in jumping in and getting that help to me from third parties as well. So again, anyone considering this program in your comprehensive school, in your alt ed program or your correctional program, whether you're working with K12 or adults, right? So if you have a jail, adult jail program, this is something that could be huge as well. 

Easy to follow program, kind of simplistic in the big sense, but you get so much out of it. The program itself, so incredibly robust and flexible. So I would just encourage everybody and thanks for what you do, Lindsey. 

It's a pleasure every day and I know you feel the same way. Just what waking up every day. I love what I do. The pleasure is all mine. Thank you so much for being on the show. Again. Thank you to our sponsor, Knorr-Bremse who actually funded having this curriculum written in the format. It is so people and schools like you can utilize it. So thank you to the Knorr-Bremse Foundation. We are excited to have another show with NGT talks and if you need to reach out to us, please feel free to email us at info at NextGen Truckers or NextGentrucking.org.