MCC alumna Tracee Wilson keeps on trucking
For Tracee Wilson, the road to success comes a mile at a time.
She’s currently a driver for APAC-Mississippi, an asphalt paving and construction materials company. “I really like it,” she said of her job.
Wilson, 47, a Meridian grandmother of six grandsons, previously worked two jobs to make ends meet, and it was wearing on her, she said. It was a trip in a truck she took with someone that jumpstarted an idea. “I figured out that I want to drive a truck. I thought about my grandsons, and I said I’m going to get into this and buy me a truck, so I can give a truck to them,” she said.
She then turned to Meridian Community College’s Commercial Truck Driving Program. The eight-week course prepares students to drive tractor-trailers and other commercial vehicles. Students experience a combination of classroom and actual road driving that includes Department of Transportation rules and regulations, safety, proper shifting, logbooks, preparation of paperwork, map reading and cargo handling.
Also, students use a state-of-the-art truck driving simulator that helps prepare them for the actual road driving experience.
Each student logs a minimum of 20 contact hours of driving time with various loads, road, and driving conditions. Students must pass the Department of Transportation Commercial Driver Written Examination and obtain a Commercial Driver’s License.
Commercial Truck Driving Program Coordinator and Instructor Otis Gowdy encouraged Wilson to enroll and was supportive during her studies. “You’re going to learn how to drive that truck. If you don’t learn how to drive that truck, you’re not going to get your license,” Wilson said. She also credits Jimmy Rigdon, Commercial Truck Driving Program instructor, for his help. “I really cared about the teachers. They pushed me to do what I’m doing now,” she added.
She was also appreciative of receiving the Johnerio “Mohead” Blakney Memorial Scholarship and the Mott Foundation Commercial Truck Driving Scholarship, both funded through The MCC Foundation, to help pay for her tuition at MCC. Wilson graduated in 2018.
Looking to the future, Wilson aspires to own her own truck and business, a business she hopes to pass to her grandsons. She added, “hopefully, be laid back and enjoy my grandkids.”
Photo: Tracee Wilson enjoys getting behind the wheel her job.