Boy Scouts Earn Trucking Merit Badges at MATS
This story appears in the April 13 print edition of Transport Topics.
A group of Boy Scouts attending the Mid-America Trucking Show got an education — and merit badges — on the trucking industry.
About 80 Scouts descended on Louisville, Kentucky, to hear presentations about the trucking industry, said Randy Schwartzenburg, executive director of Trucker Buddy International, which sponsored the March 28 event.
Part of earning trucking merit badges “is understanding diesel engines and the technology that goes into trucks,” Schwartzenburg said.
Scouts were given maps of different booths to visit, including Freightliner Trucks and assorted tire, trailer and engine makers. They heard presentations on “all aspects of trucking — what a bill of lading is, understanding the different classifications of trucks, and the dispatch and maintenance side,” he said.
The traffic safety merit badges were earned after hearing presentations about seat belts, distracted driving, blind spots and stopping distances, Schwartzenburg said.
“It really covered a broad aspect of safety and trucking,” he said.
“The mission of Trucker Buddy is to encourage students,” he said. “We want to introduce them to the industry so that one day they may want to join, either as a driver, or a mechanic — or a CEO.”
The scouts ranged in age from about 10 to 17 and typically live within a few hours of Louisville. Trucker Buddy, which sponsored the MATS event for a second straight year, is planning to host similar functions at other truck shows.
“As an Eagle Scout, assistant scoutmaster and truck lover, I was delighted to help Randy teach truck transportation merit badge at MATS,” said Allan Haggai, marketing communications manager for Freightliner Vocational Trucks, who gave a presentation at the event.
“This is a great way to spark interest in our industry and could lead them to future careers in trucking,” he told Transport Topics.
Kevin Tomlinson, chairman of American Trucking Associations’ Technology & Maintenance Council, took the scouts through the differences between diesel and gasoline engines.
“Those are the age groups of guys that we need to start to impress upon getting into the business,” he said.
Tomlinson, who is director of maintenance at flatbed carrier South Shore Transportation Co. in Sandusky, Ohio, said the trucking industry would do well to get its message to youths such as Boy Scouts.
“It was a great meeting they had going on there,” he said. “It was a large group . . . their parents were there, so they could hear the message, too,” he said.
“I think they probably walked away with more knowledge, and maybe some questions and some good ideas” about the trucking industry, Tomlinson added. “I wish more people would get involved with that.”
