Center State Amiesite Inc. Provides Paver for Instructional Use
Published 01.25.2002
Bud Neidig says Pennsylvania College of Technology is one of the few schools turning out qualified workers for the paving industry, so, when the College needed some paving equipment for student instruction, Neidig was eager to lend a hand.
Neidig, owner of Center State Amiesite Inc., RR 4 Muncy, arranged for the College to use a Blaw-Knox PF115 asphalt paver for six weeks so that students in the Heavy Construction Equipment majors could gain some real-world experience with the machine.
Neidig also dispatched his top paving foreman and a superintendent from his company to demonstrate how the equipment is operated.
The type of paver that Neidig allowed the College to use typically rents for $500 a day, he said. But Neidig said the investment was worthwhile, particularly if his company can hire more well-trained graduates of the Heavy Construction Equipment programs at Penn College.
"We're running out of good paving (workers)," Neidig said. "There are very few in the eastern part of Pennsylvania. ? It's an ace in the hole for me if (the College) can produce people out of there."
Neidig, who counts seven graduates of Penn College or its predecessor institutions among his firm's 58 employees (including a vice president), said he expects to employ more Penn College alumni in the future, and he is a firm believer in the College's brand of hands-on instruction.
"I think we're going to get some more quality people. ? I think they're going in the right direction," he said of the College's Heavy Construction Equipment programs. "They produce good students who are ready to go to work. I'd like to see this happen and be part of it."
Benjamin H. Eldred, assistant professor of diesel equipment technology, said nearly 50 students in the School of Natural Resources Management gained valuable experience on the machine while it was used by the College at its Earth Science Center campus near Allenwood.
"The donation of the paver and instructor enabled our program to add another aspect of training that benefits both the student and the needs of the employer," Eldred said. "Forty-five students were trained on the operation of a paver."
For more information about the Heavy Construction Equipment majors at Penn College, call (570) 320-8038 or visit on the Web.