Large Equipment Maintenance & Operation
This course provides experience in the operation of heavy equipment as well as instruction in mechanical maintenance on large industrial equipment. Students will learn to operate and maintain everything in our equipment fleet, which includes: a backhoe, excavator, bulldozer, D7, skid steer, forklift, Cat loader, Cat Grader, Volvo loader, mule, multiple dump trucks, road tractors, low bed, tag trailer, screen plant, and attachments for the loaders and skid steer. Students will use equipment to plow snow, load gravel, dig trenches, plow parking lots, and haul materials. Our fleet of large equipment is very impressive and unparalleled in this area.
The Large Equipment students complete various live work projects in the community throughout the year. This may include deforestation and groundwork for new construction, removing trees and stumps, ditching, screening, demolition of old/unsafe structures, and snow removal and grading. Most of the time, our students are outside of the building or off campus.
A valid Maine driver’s license is required to take this program. If space is available, we may allow students without a driver’s license up until we return from Harvest Break (mid-October) to obtain their driver’s license. We will give admission preference to a student who has their CDL license because then we have a driver for our dump trucks to and from job sites. For this reason, we recommend that a student who wants to take both Large Equipment and CDL, complete CDL first if possible.
Students in this program are heavily recruited by local and statewide employers. Many of our graduates consider pursuing their education in Diesel Hydraulics, Forestry, Logging, or Mechanized Logging.
