South Suburban College (SSC) has always been passionate about uplifting the people in the communities it serves. Whether that’s through education, employment assistance, or the training of transferable skills, SSC has remained committed to creating opportunities.
One of these initiatives bore fruit with the graduation of the next generation of Pace Suburban Bus drivers. The nine graduates – Deidra McCray, Kisha Redmond, Lisa Lofton, Martin Kerry, Michael Wells, Rushon Avant, Sean Williams, Tia Thornton, and Tonia Ware – have successfully achieved their Class B commercial driver’s license (CDL) through a collaborative effort from Pace and SSC.
“It’s a great collaboration,” said Terry Wells, chairman of the SSC Board of Trustees and member of the Pace Board of Directors. “There's a huge need for bus drivers and truck drivers throughout the country, so when the pilot program was presented to us, we thought it was a great opportunity to train students on this campus and provide them with jobs.”
The entire partnership was built on the idea of removing financial barriers to education and returning trained workers to the community. For the CDL program, that saw Pace covering tuition and other associated costs while students were trained on SSC’s campus. Since the program’s inception, 17 of its graduates have gone on to work for Pace, helping the community as a whole.
“That’s our goal,” said Wells. “We didn’t want to just provide jobs; we wanted to provide good jobs with good benefits, good pay, and a chance for advancement. It has worked out well, and we hope this program will continue to grow because there is definitely a need.”
Working with Pace includes competitive pay, paid training, health insurance, retirement benefits, and a whole slew of other perks SSC is happy to introduce to its students. While it’s the hope of both Pace and SSC that graduates will join Pace in serving Chicagoland, the skills obtained are transferable anywhere.
“It's a training program where students get the best training around, the best training possible,” said Wells. “It puts them in a position where they can leave here and get a job driving a bus or truck. We’d rather they stay with Pace, but the CDL program gives them the opportunity to go wherever they want. It’s a skillset that’s desperately needed.”
“I’m proud of myself and my peers,” said Avant. “It’s a great opportunity for everyone.”
Avant lives in the area and saw callouts for the CDL program before joining. He saw it as a good way to give back.
“I like to drive, I like to help others, and I like to serve my community,” Avant said. “The CDL program lets me do all of that at once like a dream job.”
Throughout his time in the program, Avant found support from everyone involved. It encouraged him to see it through to the end.
“The team was very helpful and encouraging in making sure that we'd be able to serve in the best way possible,” said Avant.
Does this partnership between Pace and SSC seem too good to be true? You can find out for yourself at the upcoming pre-hiring event happening on February 21. During the pre-hiring event, potential applicants will be able to meet Pace staff, be pre-screened for the program, and learn more about everything it entails.
“We're pleased to have this program here, and we're looking forward to bringing more students in and getting them into a career that is growing,” said Wells.
To learn more about South Suburban College, visit ssc.edu.