The Pirate, May 27, 2021

The digital magazine for faculty, staff, students and friends of Pensacola State College

May 27, 2021

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Pensacola State College truck driving student Johnson Demps was rolling down the highway in his liquid tanker big rig when the sunshine disappeared in an instant and heavy fog rolled in. A moment later there was rain. Then snow.

A deer crossed the highway and Demps hit the brakes, slowing down to let the creature pass.

“I don’t want to hit Bambi,” Demps said. “Let’s get across Bambi.”

Demps was driving on one of PSC’s two state-of-the-art Virage Truck simulators, which feature a three-screen immersive visual system, surround sound and even a motion system that allows drivers to feel all the bumps of the roads and the weight of the rig and the movement of the liquid being hauled.

Demps is one of 12 students – there are two cohorts of six students – currently enrolled in PSC’s Commercial Vehicle Driving program, which is a 320-clock-hour certificate course where students train to earn their Class A Commercial Driver’s License, allowing them to operate vehicles with a weight of more than 26,000 pounds and that carry loads of 10,000 pounds or more.

The program is designed to help fill a needed workforce gap.

PSC awarded $3.8M Triumph grant for truck driving program

Pensacola State College’s truck driving program has received a financial boost from Triumph Gulf Coast, Inc.

The College recently was awarded a $3.8 million Triumph Gulf Coast grant to help build a 13,000-square-foot commercial driver’s license training and testing facility on a 15-acre parcel off of Jeff Ates Road in Santa Rosa County.

Total cost for the facility, including construction and equipment, is $7.8 million. Groundbreaking for the facility, in the Santa Rosa Industrial Park East, north of Interstate 10, will take place sometime in August.

The total 10-year cost of the project ─ including salaries, supplies, student fee waivers and facility operations is $11.3 million.

PSC students win gold, advance to national SkillsUSA conference

Pensacola State College’s SkillsUSA chapter won five gold, two silver and three bronze medals at the organization’s Florida 2021 Virtual State Leadership and Skills Conference.

Winning gold and advancing to the 2021 Virtual SkillsUSA National Leadership and SkillsUSA Championship are:

● Patrick Newburn: Commercial Banking

● Team A – James A. Martin and Keenan Stoughton: MRE Challenge

● Amelia Moore: Photography

● Ashlyn Cain: Restaurant Service

● Team A – LaTeisha Hughes and model India Malone: Esthetics.

Set for June 21-24, the SkillsUSA national conference will include localized hands-on elements for select competitions. SkillsUSA TECHSPO, delegate sessions, national officer elections, opportunities for leadership development and member/chapter recognition also will be part of the annual event.

Other PSC students placing at the state level were:

Silver Medals: Beth Burgeson, Commercial Banking, and Frederick Hallman, Photography.

Bronze Medals: Lisa Wicks, Commercial Banking; Carolyn Lungaro, Culinary Arts; and Enrique Viveros, Job Interview.

PSC SkillsUSA advisers are Jimmie D. Langham, Commercial Banking, Culinary Arts and MRE Challenge; Sonja McCall-Strehlow, Esthetics; Mark Francis, Job Interview and Photography; and Joni Verlin, Restaurant.