Six Caterpillar Dealers from the southeastern United States participated in “Think Big” Mentor Training at South Georgia Technical College in the Heavy Equipment Dealers Service Technology (HEDST) program building recently. SGTC HEDST program instructors and Internship Manager for CAT ThinkBIG Don Rountree and Kyle Hartsfield and Jim Larson, Corporate Training and Recruiting Manager for Yancey Brothers Company in Georgia, conducted the training. This was the largest group ever for the Mentor Training at SGTC.
South Georgia Technical College President Dr. John Watford thanked the group for the partnership with South Georgia Technical College and thanked Caterpillar for their support of the college and the impact that they have on students. SGTC Vice President of Academic Affairs David Kuipers, Vice President of Student Affairs Eulish Kinchens, Vice President of Institutional Advancement Su Ann Bird, and SGTC Academic Dean Raymond Holt also met with the CAT officials at the beginning of the training.
The Caterpillar “Think Big” program is a two-year hands-on service technician scholarship program offered in Americus in partnership with South Georgia Technical College by Yancey Brothers Company in Georgia, Ring Power Corporation in Florida, Stowers Machinery from Knoxville, TN; Thompson Tractor from Birmingham, AL; Thompson Machinery in LaVergne, TN; and Puckett Machinery Company in Flowood, Mississippi. This dealer-sponsored scholarship program was launched in 2000 and helps pay the student’s two-year tuition.
The Think Big curriculum rotates classroom instruction at SGTC and hands-on training at the dealership in eight-week intervals. During the internship rotations at each dealer, students earn hourly wages assisting trained technicians working on Caterpillar machines and components, and are guided by experienced mentor/technicians.
The CAT ThinkBIG Mentor training held at South Georgia Technical College featured new mentors from six Caterpillar dealers and discussed “How to Develop Successful Mentor Behaviors.” Jim Larson, Training Manager for Yancey Brothers, Chip Handley from RingPower and Phillip Welch from Thompson Machinery and South Georgia Tech’s Don Rountree, Kyle Hartsfield, and Keith McCorkle conducted the training. SGTC Academic Dean Raymond Holt also attended.
The team discussed where the term mentor came from, the elements of mentoring, mentoring relationships, is mentoring for you, what do mentors do, what do you as a mentor get out of it, re-cap of what is needed to mentor, and the internship reporting process.
The Caterpillar individuals who participated in the mentor training included: Steven Foster, Jason Dillard, John Arp, Chandler Soucey, Matt Bass, Jason Conley, Corey Mansfield, Kevin Meek, Alvin Gussie, Tim Nickell and Chip Handley from Ring Power; Brad Spickard from Stowers Machinery; Greg McCrary and Phillip Welch from Thompson Machinery; Kevin Ellis, Chris Ellsworth from Thompson Tractor; and Brian Weber, Brandon Kinard, Keith McMillan, Russ Wagner, Blake Ellison, Corbin Tilley, Richard Hornback, Travis Hulsey, Jason Harris, and Jim Larson from Yancey Brothers.
