(Altoona, PA): Allegheny Trucks, Inc. has donated a preowned diesel truck to the Greater Altoona Career & Technology Center (GACTC) to offer students hands-on learning to examine, diagnose, and repair diesel vehicles.

GACTC students in the Automotive Technology, Collision Repair & Refinishing Technology, and Automotive/Diesel Technology programs will be able to work on the truck.

“The industry is in critical need for trained and skilled technicians more than ever. The field takes on ever-changing technologies year after year,” said Larry Sherry, Service Manager for Allegheny Trucks. “In this day and age a mechanic who can repair and understand the basics of truck repair also now has to be able to communicate with the truck through its multiple control modules. This takes an understanding of what modules control what functions and feedbacks, how they communicate with each other and how to program and change parameters within the module.”

Allegheny Trucks worked with the Technican Recruitment Manager at Navistar to find a truck that was recently decommissioned and available for donation, and sent Calvin Hommer, Heavy Duty Recovery and Wrecker Operator, to Lisle, Ill. to pick it up and deliver it to the GACTC. Hommer is an alumnus of the GACTC’s Auto Mechanics program.

Eric Palmer, Executive Director of the GACTC, noted that the school depends on industry partners like Allegheny Trucks for feedback to help keep programs current, and that the school strives to provide up-to-date, hands-on opportunities for students in technology-driven programs.

“This vehicle will allow us to introduce the next level of technology to our automotive students so they can be proficient, up-to-date technicians when they leave us – and maybe even go to work for Allegheny Trucks,” Palmer added. “We are so grateful to Allegheny Trucks for this generous donation.”