Page 325 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong

program in 2019, which is the largest class we’ve ever had for Peterson,” says Randy Shelton, Peter- son’s recruiting manager. Since 2002, Peterson has put 241 students through the ThinkBIG program, and 159 are still employed throughout the orga- nization. Each year, Peterson forecasts how many technicians it will need to reach its annual budget- ary goals. In 2015, Peterson hired 88 technicians to keep up with demand; in 2016–87 techs, in 2017– 96, in 2018–104, in 2019–90, and in 2020–34, due to Covid. That makes ThinkBIG grads roughly a quarter of Peterson’s annual new hires. Currently, there are about 600 technicians companywide.
THE VOICE OF THINKBIG
The typical ThinkBIG kid is either fresh out of high school or somewhere in their twenties. But then, Eddie Thoits is anything but typical. “I was exposed to cars from a very early age because my dad had an auto repair shop. He was also a hot-rodder, so every day after school I was down there wrenching with him.” Then Eddie went off to college to earn a degree in Ag Economics and ended up on Wall Street. “I thought wrenching was just going to be a hobby, but after spending half my adult life as a stockbroker and getting to- tally disillusioned, I decided to go find something I’d actually love to do.”
In 2012, Thoits found the ThinkBIG program. He was forty-one years old at the time. “ThinkBIG is an outstanding program. It’s very hands-on with an excellent ratio between class time and labs. For every two hours of classroom time, you get eight hours hands-on in the shop. When I first start- ed at Delta College, we were crammed into two small shops. By my last two semesters, we’d moved into a brand-new shop facility with lots of Cat en- gines up on stands—mostly 3406As, Bs, Cs, even some E models. And then the different Cat dealers would alternate bringing in Tier 4 equipment for us to work on. It’s just an outstanding curriculum.”
KEEP THE TOOLS
Peterson provides a set of tools and a toolbox to each of its ThinkBIG students to use during their internship.
Tuition for internships in Oregon and Washington
is covered by company-provided scholarships, which allow students to save their money for school expenses. After completion of the program, Peterson provides a tuition reimbursement program to cover any remaining tuition costs.
For California ThinkBIG students, their education is tuition-free thanks to a partnership between Peterson and the California Department of Apprenticeship Standards. Graduating students
of both schools get to keep their toolsets after six months of full-time employment and a B average.
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