Edison Tech students get hands-on experience in the trucking industry amid driver shortage

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — Edison Career & Technology High School is reinventing the classic field trip and is showing students what it’s like to work in diesel mechanics with a three-day event for them to get a hands-on experience.

“For me personally I am going between what I want to do, junior Jairo Agosto said. “Might be going into diesel but I don’t know but this just gives a lot of opportunity for other students."

Agosto is a junior at Edison Tech and says he has been wanting to go into the big rig industry for some time now and says he has learned a lot about diesel technology.

“I learned the difference between the two, also it’s not too complicated,” Agosto said. “It’s like the brake system, the engine, some of the different components but might be bigger scale and stuff."

Representatives from the Trucking Association of New York say lessons involve break and electrical systems and overall diesel engine orientation.

“Whether there’s a diesel tech program, or CDL program, forklift operator, warehouse dispatcher, you know any of those things we have to offer in the trucking industry,” TANY Workforce Development Coordinator Rusty Stetzel said.

With seven companies on-site, students got one-on-one time with them, learning how to get in and operate trucks and experience a 3-D driving simulator.

“It’s just the trucking industry itself, I mean we’re in need,” Stetzel said. “We’re in need in almost every aspect of the industry."

Students like Jairo say they are grateful for this opportunity and for the chance of a potential new job in the industry when they graduate.

“This event is just great, people can just see different aspects of what are they different type of jobs we can go into,” Agosto said.