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Jarod Maciejewski came to ��Ӱֱ�� State with experience working with heavy equipment and added to his knowledge base with a degree in truck & diesel technician. He has taken all of this into a fulfilling career at Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA). 

“I chose ��Ӱֱ�� because I wanted to get the book side of the trade. I was already working with heavy equipment and the diesel side of things. I was lacking in electrical and other categories and ��Ӱֱ�� was able to give me that training.” 

The style of learning suited Jarrod, “My favorite thing is the hands-on. We spent an hour and a half, two hours in lecture and I was able to apply what I learned in the classroom to the actual vehicle I was working on.”

An instructor handed him an internship opportunity with the NFTA, and it started to open doors. “. The wage was decent. The hours were good, 35 hours a week, and it was close to my house, so I decided to go there.”

He ended up doing internships over breaks and during the summer. He passed the NFTA pre-test for becoming a mechanic and started working full-time during the COVID pandemic.

“I was a technician for about four years and got up to full rate. I was a garage defect mechanic, moved over to unit change where we were swapping engines, transmissions, bigger parts like that, and then the job posting came up for the technical trainer. I put in for that and now I am one of the NFTA's technical trainers.”

Jarrod has returned to campus to recruit for the NFTA and to serve as a judge in SkillsUSA competitions. He knows that graduates from the program will fit right in. 

“The education they get from ��Ӱֱ�� is a great start to our training. It's a good baseline for hiring people.”