Trucking Driving School Changed My Life Forever

Going back to school to learn a completely new trade as an adult can be a tough pill to swallow. One thing is for sure, the opportunities that come with going back to school make the decision worthwhile. Truck driving school is a great option for adults considering the change.

There are many reasons people decide to attend Truck Driver Institute for truck driving school including being stuck at a low paying job, or being bored of their current work situation. Brian Hansen’s decision to change his life with the help of TDI came after realizing his lifestyle that lead to his checkered past needed to change for good.

While sitting in a prison cell in the middle of his 14-year prison sentence, Brian decided to start working toward learning to live is life in a new way. He knew he needed to make a big change. Brian Hansen’s story is one of perseverance and determination. His story proves that you are not defined by your past, and your past does not define your future.

“The most powerful feeling of loneliness that you could ever imagine hit me. Society didn’t want me around. The entire United States of America didn’t want me around. The people in prison didn’t even want me around.”

As soon as this feeling of utter loneliness hit him, Brian knew there was something wrong with the way he was living his life.

“I made a decision that I was going to do whatever I had to do to change myself from the ground up.”

After Brian was able to get out of prison, he decided to make changes in a big way by going back to school at Truck Driver Institute. With the help of the recruiters and instructors at Truck Driver Institute, Brian was able to be a successful truck driving student. He put in the hard work and time necessary to learn the ins and outs of trucking in the classroom and over the road at TDI.

Brian successfully graduated from TDI in Milton, FL in December of 2016, but the process wasn’t always easy. When he was getting ready to graduate truck driving school, all of his classmates were getting numerous job offers from big companies. Those same big companies were turning him down.

“Those big companies didn’t want to touch me with a 10-foot pole [because of my past]. With every rejection I got, the more dejected I felt.”

Brian felt worthless. He felt he was never going to be able to succeed even though he was about to graduate with his Class A CDL. He ended up taking a job with a company that paid him ten cents per mile. Not only was he not getting the pay he deserved, but the company also treated him with no respect. Thankfully this rough patch only lasted about two months for Brian. He heard about an opportunity driving for Tyson Foods that was about to change his life again.

“I was sitting in my apartment one day when a nice lady from H.R. at Tyson called me. She said she knew about my past, but asked me what I had done about it. She asked me to tell her the positive things I had done. That’s when I knew the job was mine because I had been doing a lot of positive things to work on myself.”

Brian was hired to drive for Tyson foods where he is loving his career, and is treated just like family. Throughout this long process Brian has continued to better himself from the inside out, and feels that he has finally figured it all out.

“Trucking school has not only given me an opportunity to move up into another tax bracket, but it has also given me a since of self. I’m so fortunate that I was able to go from basically being in a ditch, and then spending my life in prison to being someone who I am so proud to stand here [and say I graduated trucking school from TDI, and have a new career].”

Since working with Tyson Foods, Brian has accomplished some amazing feats. Brian helped deliver meals to Houston after Hurricane Harvey with “Meals That Matter,” a humanitarian food program sponsored by Tyson. Meals that Matter delivered 916,018 meals to Houston and Conroe, 700,000 meals to area food banks, and 32,000 meals to team members providing a total of 1,648,018 meals to people in need.

“I have lots of stories and memories of this experience [in Houston]. Some of them heartbreaking, but all of them will stay with me my whole life.”

Truck Driver Institute is proud to have Brian as one of our graduates, and as a part of the TDI family. His story is proof that it is never too late to change your life for the better.