FAIRFIELD, Maine — Many students are beginning their school year inside of classrooms, but for students taking the Mechanized Logging Operations and Forest Trucking (MLOFT) Program at Kennebec Valley Community College, their classroom is out in the woods.
"It's big equipment, what's not to love really I guess," student Daniel Higgins said,
For Higgins and other students in the program, the learning curriculum looks a little different from traditional college education.
"We want them to be able to understand here's the tree, this is what we're going to be doing with it, and this is where it's going," MLOFT Program Coordinator Donald Burr said.
During the 20-week program at KVCC, students obtain their commercial driver's license and learn how to safely and effectively operate seven different industrial logging machines at no charge, thanks to equipment donations from Caterpillar and John Deere.
"They get in and are able to sit in that machine and make the decisions and go, 'Yeah, this is what I want, and this is what I want to run,'" Burr said.
The program highlights more than just learning how to move and process the wood, though. Higgins said instructors are also teaching him about ways to identify and value different types of lumber.
"I'll look at a piece of wood and I'll [go], 'Yeah, there's not that much money in it,' and then they'll tell me there's money in that, you're just not looking at it quite right," Higgins said.
Program creator and director of Professional Logging Contractors of the Northeast, Dana Doran, said students are also given the opportunity to job shadow at local contractors and logging businesses across Maine.
"If we're going to have small businesses that're successful, we need to have training programs that serve their needs, we need to have employers that want those graduates, and it keeps the circle," Doran said.
And even with several weeks of the program still remaining, Higgins feels like he's more than ready for a career in the historic industry.
"I feel way more prepared and like I'm ready to rock the world," Higgins said.
According to program coordinators, students will continue learning equipment operations and logging skills until graduation in early November.