Walking through the Ohio Peterbilt Perrysburg facility, 17-year-old Roddrick Scott took note of the brightly lit 68,000-square-foot building where mechanics could work on large-scale trucks.
And one day, the Woodward High School junior envisioned himself working there.
His chances are looking even better, thanks to Toledo Public Schools’ new partnership with Ohio Peterbilt and the Peterbilt Motors Co. that will provide Woodward’s Diesel Tech program students access to the company’s training and open doors to apprenticeships and internships.
To announce the partnership, 12 Diesel Tech students were taken by bus recently to the facility where company executives gave them a tour to show them what the company had to offer.
Students walked through the 26 service bays, where they watched technicians working on various vehicles, learned what a typical technician’s day was like, as well as were shown the various tools that they used — tools that one day would be at the students’ disposal.
“It’s amazing,” Roddrick said, taking to heart that he might be given a leg up to a career at Peterbilt before he graduates. “You get to start off young to learn about all of this and then get to maybe come in and work for them, while still young, having worked here longer than most people when they start out.”
The facility upgrades and cleanliness even wowed his instructor, Kevin Hertzfeld, who remarked that students’ training there would be much more advanced compared to when he was still learning the trade.
“I’m just going to say that, once you’ve seen this place, it’s all downhill,” he said, which earned many hearty laughs from Peterbilt employees and students alike.
Ken Taylor, Ohio Machinery Co. president and owner, said the Toledo Public Schools partnership is the most involved agreement the company has with any such K-12 school system. And while executives are committed to giving back to the community, he said the company also benefits by training future employees from the ground up.
“You see the size of our shop, we need people,” he said. “Our society doesn’t produce people today for all the trades, and so we have to be extra assertive to attract people to our industry.”
Toledo Public Schools Superintendent Romules Durant said the students would first need to work with their school instructors to create a training plan for what they need to learn to acquire an internship at the company. The point of the tour, he said, was to give them an idea of what options were available to them so they can prepare for those opportunities.
To help them along, he said the district would provide busing for apprenticeships and internships if they could not provide their own transportation.
“This is what it’s about in regard to college and career readiness, and in regard to being ready for the industry or in the field within itself upon graduation,” he told students. “Continue to take pride in what you do, take pride in your work, and at the end of the day in regard to being TPS proud and Peterbilt Proud or anywhere that you work.”
First Published April 9, 2023, 2:58 p.m.
