Lenoir Co. Students get hands on experience learning about trade careers.

Lenoir Co Students get hands on experience learning about trade careers.

KINSTON, N.C. (WNCT) — From construction to operating heavy equipment and commercial truck driving, students were able to get hands-on experience Tuesday on the Be Pro Be Proud bus simulator. It was a chance to see what it’s like to have a career in skilled trades. “We’re learning about stuff like careers and everything and about what you can make after you graduate, planning on things like going to places, working on forklifts, working for like construction companies and moving logs,” said Ridge Hinson, a Junior at Kinston High School. “The truck driving is back towards over there and moving cinderblocks off of a truck and then putting it on a pallet, and moving it to the ground is what interested me.” Students were taken in groups and had the chance to test out the simulators on the bus during 45-minute sessions. “I’m learning how this can be a little difficult of a workforce and it really puts me in a new perspective when I look at linemen,” said Zaria Newton, a sophomore at Kinston High School. Josh Seaford, an operations specialist with the Be Pro Be Proud Simulator hopes these sessions will peak students’ interest in the trade workforce. He also said the two bus simulators will travel across the state visiting high schools hoping to make a difference in a student’s future.