Kevin Schneier
TCA SCHOLARSHIP
$2,725
Tri National, Inc.
Earth City, Missouri
As long as I have been alive, my dad has worked in the trucking industry, and since birth I have never been able to get enough of cars, trucks, and anything with an engine. When I was a kid, my favorite toys were the model trucks my dad would bring me home from work, and some of my favorite days were his company parties, when I could come to work with him and sit in the driver’s seat of one of the company’s tractors. Every night before I went to bed, my dad would read me my favorite picture book: “There Goes a Truck”. I was less than two years old and couldn’t read yet, but we still have old family videos of me sitting down with the book, flipping through the pages and reciting it cover to cover – still unable to read, but memorizing every word as it was read to me night after night. As I started going through school, I was fascinated each time my dad would come back from work and talk about things like how a small aerodynamic piece on a trailer could save the company thousands in gasoline costs; every decision he made was based on efficiency, and through his job he introduced me to an analytical way of thinking that led me to choose to study engineering. Transportation is still a huge part of who I am today, as an electrical engineering major whose dream is to one day work in the auto industry; but beyond me personally, my dad’s career in the trucking industry has meant the world to our family. He has been with Tri-National for almost two decades now, and his joy to work with great people for a great company has brought our family peace, stability, and happiness.