Austin Owens
TCA SCHOLARSHIP
$2,725
McLeod Software Corporation
Birmingham, Alabama
When my father began working at McLeod Software, he left behind a job that he did not like very much. Now he has a stable career that he enjoys, and he wouldn’t have it without the trucking industry. Aside from that, his job in the industry provides much needed income for my family, especially now that my sister will be starting college in the fall. I have also learned a great deal about the trucking industry when talking with my dad about his job. He told me all about how shipping companies and their drivers use technology to organize and catalog inventories, plus manage their routes and driving times. Since trucking is the largest means of commercial transportation for goods, making the process as streamlined as possible saves time, money, and maybe even lives. Also, I began a co-op as a process engineer at a paper mill this summer. During some of the initial training sessions I learned that between 400 and 500 trucks enter the mill every day transporting trees and any other materials the plant needs. So now the trucking industry directly affects my career as well as my father’s. This makes the trucking industry an even bigger part of my life than before, and its impact on my family even greater.