Cross begins trucking career at 18
Ty'laja Cross is driven.
The 18-year-old Scooba resident will receive her Commercial Truck Driving certificate at Meridian Community College on Friday, July 31. But she doesn’t plan to stop there; she wants to be a business owner by the time she's 30.
"I know for sure that I want to have a trucking company," she said. "I want to give other people opportunities."
She wasn't interested in wasting time. Cross graduated high school on May 15 and started MCC's program on June 1, less than three weeks later.
"I didn't want to wait until August when I could take the class in June and possibly be making money by August," she said.
Trucking wasn't something Cross grew up dreaming about. It started with a video game. The more she learned about the industry, the more it made sense for her. Cross described herself as quiet and independent who likes working on her own terms.
She had a financial helping hand in getting into the program. The Mott Foundation Commercial Truck Driving Scholarship, funded through the MCC Foundation, covered part of the cost of her tuition.
Cross was eager to get started. It’s about an hour’s drive from her home to the College’s Truck Driving classroom, and she made it every class day often arriving a full hour before the 8 a.m. start time just to get in extra practice.
"It was tiring because I'm not a morning person, but it paid off," she said.
Not everything came easily; parking and offset backing were tough, but what got her through it, she said, was the people around her.
"We weren't competing against one another," Cross said about her classmates. "We were helping one another. It was teamwork."
Commercial Truck Driving Program Instructor Rosie Gordon, herself an alumna of the MCC career and technical program, said she enjoyed having Cross in the program.
“Ty set a goal for herself and being young didn’t stop her. When things got hard she worked harder and ask questions,” Gordon said.
Because she's under 21, Cross will start out local, she's looking at a position with a nearby company to build up experience before going further. Eventually, though, she wants her own company to hire young drivers and help cover training costs for people who can't afford it themselves. She'd also like to see more women get into the industry.
"Whether you're male or female doesn't matter," she said. "You can do anything."
It's a long road from where she is now to owning a company but she's not worried about the timeline.
Cross added, "When I set my mind to something, I'm going to do it."
For more information, visit meridiancc.edu/ctd.