Manatee Technical College training next generation of diesel system technicians

BRADENTON, Fla. - The work done at Manatee Technical College is preparing students like Ryan Lazarus for a career as a diesel system technicians. 

"To me, it’s just worth it. You work on trucks, you keep America running with these trucks," Lazarus said. 

For the last 10 months, the class has gotten hands on. 

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"Mr. Green is by far the best teacher I’ve ever had, especially when it comes to hands on learning," Lazarus said. "He really knows how to push it, and he knows how to teach what the book knowledge, and he can also teach us the hands on knowledge."

After finishing 75% of the program, every student had 11 job offers. They’ve already accepted their jobs, even before graduation at the end of June. 

"It’s given me a lot of sense of security, because I wasn’t sure where I would end up at the end of the day after graduating school," said Paige Godwin. 

Godwin said she will soon be a full-time employee at Coca-Cola.

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"I am already hired. I started an apprenticeship last month, I started and so far I work three days a week. I love it. It’s exciting," she said.

The class was started through the Florida Job Growth Grand Fund. MTC was the first in the state to be awarded the grant in 2017. 

Out of the 92 Job Growth grants awarded, only 10 were awarded to technical colleges. MTC was awarded two grants. 

"They’re learning potential is almost limitless," said instructor Adam Green. "They could go anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000, it really depends on the ambition of the student."

The first graduating class will provide Diesel Technicians to places like the Manatee County School District and Pacific Tomato Growers. 

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Every student will stay local, in providing services needed. 

"The market needs diesel mechanics really bad. So they’ve done a great job filling in those positions and there’s still a lot more to go, so we still have a lot of work ahead of us," said Green. 

For more information on the Diesel System Technicians class, click here.