Reading about crankshafts and air intake systems in textbooks is a great way to learn about truck motors, but it’s quite the same as getting your hands on the real thing. That’s why the Trades and Technology Program at Thompson Rivers University (TRU) was thrilled to learn that Dawson Group donated four decommissioned trucks for their students to work on.
“This was a fantastic donation and the trucks will be fantastic for our students to work on,” said Mike Harcourt, Chair of the Trades and Technology Program. “As a program, we often rely on donations from the industry to benefit our students, but we rarely get donations like this.”
Prior to the holiday break, Dawson Construction was cleaning the Knutsford yard and it was determined there was no longer a use for four trucks in the yard. Instead of selling or scrapping them, Equipment Coordinator Brad Gerow called TRU to see if there was a need for equipment in both their Automotive Service Technician and Heavy Duty Mechanical programs.
“These trucks are old with engine problems and frame problems, among other things,” said Gerow.
Don’s Auto Towing delivered three Ford dually trucks and an old International tandem axle water truck to TRU from Knutsford. Two of the trucks used to be operational with Dawson Construction and the other two performed duties with Dawson Road Maintenance.
“We can take apart these trucks and make modules out of them, giving the students some great hands-on experience. We can break the trucks up into sections, while also having the students perform maintenance work on the engines,” said Harcourt. “These are going to be a great help.”
If you’re interested in working for a company that enjoys providing tools for the next generation of employees, please check out of Careers Page for our latest job postings.