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Featured | High Schools

Young & McQueen and Carolina CAT Partner to Bring Heavy Equipment Training to NC High School

by GroundBreak Carolinas on

Young & McQueen Grading Company Inc. and Carolina CAT have partnered with Yancey County (NC) Schools to bring Heavy Equipment training to high school students in the Career & Technical Education (CTE) program at Mountain Heritage High School in Burnsville, North Carolina. Young & McQueen and Carolina CAT worked together to develop the curriculum, which was recently approved by the NC Department of Public Instruction.

In mid-August, just before school started, an Open House was held at Mountain Heritage High School to promote the new CTE program. Carolina CAT brought its mobile training facility trailer with two simulators to the high school’s campus for students, employees, and parents to enjoy the experience of operating a bulldozer or excavator.

CarolinaCAT’s trailer was the centerpiece of the Open House.

Heavy Equipment Operator classes will be offered to Mountain Heritage High School juniors and seniors beginning in the spring of 2023. Young & McQueen’s John Anglin, Business Manager, elaborated on the purpose of the program, explaining “It’s no secret that industries in and around construction have struggled to find skilled tradespeople over the past decade. In fact, Young & McQueen currently has open positions for a variety of trades ranging from heavy equipment operators to CDL drivers. With that said, we continually seek opportunities to be a part of the solution and believe that partnering with Yancey County Schools in this effort is a huge step in the right direction so that our local students are students ‘job ready’ upon high school graduation.”

The general public was invited to the Open House previewing next spring’s CTE program.

In an August 24, 2022, article about the Open House, the local Burnsville, N.C.  newspaper, Yancy Common Times Journal, noted, “The mission of NC secondary Career and Technical Education is to empower all students to be successful citizens, workers and leaders in a global economy.”