Six Caterpillar Dealers from the southeastern United States participated in “Think Big” Internship OrientationTraining at South Georgia Technical College for the Heavy Equipment Dealers Service Technology (HEDST) program recently. SGTC HEDST program instructor Don Rountree along with instructors Keith Mccorkle and Rance Pross joined CAT dealers to conduct the training.
The Caterpillar “Think Big” program is a two-year hands-on service technician scholarship program offered in Americus at South Georgia Technical College in partnership with CAT Corporate and CAT Dealers: Yancey Brothers Company in Georgia, Stowers Machinery from Knoxville, TN; Thompson Tractor from Birmingham, AL; Puckett Machinery Company in Jackson, Mississippi; Blanchard Machinery and Carolina CAT from North and South Carolina. This dealer-sponsored scholarship program was launched in 2000 and has been in continuous operation for over 25 years.
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 Internship and Mentor training held at South Georgia Technical College featured mentors from Caterpillar dealers and SGTC Heavy Equipment Dealer Service Technology students. The orientation covered effective mentoring techniques, communication strategies as well as ways to support the ThinkBig students.