Veteran PennDOT heavy equipment manager Roger Deshong said he’s worked with more than 30 of students during his career in the agency, and all have benefited from the time spent through cooperative education programs. “It’s a pleasure watching them learn a trade and supporting them as they work toward setting goals,” said Deshong, who is the equipment manager at the Bedford office. “We encourage them to set high goals and to continue school after they graduate.” The coop program - available at several of the county’s high schools and the Bedford County Technical Center - places students in workplaces for up to a year to supplement the vocational training they receive through classes. They typically work about half-time while attending academic classes at their home schools, earning credit toward graduation through their supervised, paid work experience.

Tech Center auto-diesel students Eric Koontz of Everett and Scott Redinger of Bedford are stationed in the Bedford PennDOT office this year. “The people here are great, very helpful and having all this equipment to work on has been really good,” said Eric. Scott agreed, noting, “working on real stuff has been a good opportunity for me. I feel that I’ll be better prepared and have better skills when I graduate because of this program.” It’s not only the students who benefit, however. Deshong said he sees many benefits for employers. “Of course we get a good set of helping hands, which is always beneficial. But we also see it increasing morale in the shop. Our employees like to be positive roll models for the kids; it builds camaraderie.”

The PennDOT shop gives auto-diesel students a unique opportunity to work on a wide variety of equipment. “I’m not sure there’s anywhere else that would have the heavy equipment such as graders and loaders down to small lawn and garden equipment,” Deshong said. “Having this kind of positive work experience should definitely help these kids when they leave us - it’s been my experience the coop students tend to get better jobs compared to other graduates from the same curriculums who don’t have that experience. Having a good evaluation from an employer - having a good reference when they walk in the door - should definitely give them a leg-up on other job applicants.”

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