New class prepares students to earn Commercial Driver’s License

BUFFALO — Buffalo High School is the first high school to offer a new Commercial Driver’s License course through Sheridan College, and that was intentional, instructor Joe Bennett said.

Bennett has 26 years of experience driving commercial vehicles, delivering for Coca-Cola, hauling oversized loads for oil fields, working as a mover and driving plow trucks and road painters for the Wyoming Department of Transportation.

He knew he wanted BHS to be the first school to offer it, he said.

“They’re ranch kids,” Bennett said. “They’re better than some of the adults.”

Brayden Heller is among the 10 BHS students in the class, and he would agree that many of the students at his school have some exposure to operating large vehicles.

“I’ve been around it my whole life – the past three generations of my family all drove truck,” Heller said. “... Most of the school population has been exposed to it in some way.”

For Heller, the exciting part of the class is that upon completion, while students will also have earned high school and college credit, they will have the behind-the-wheel instruction they need to take their Class A CDL test and earn their license. A Class A CDL allows drivers to operate a wide range of commercial vehicles, including semi-trucks and tractor-trailers.

The course has an online portion that can take students up to 40 hours to complete. Then

students get behind a simulator. Students sit in a chair and strap themselves into the fake rig, start the vehicle and drive through a simulated area. Bennett can select the location students drive through, the kind of vehicle and the potential hazards and road conditions they will face. Bennett said that while using a simulator isn’t necessary for people to earn their CDL, it’s good practice so he can gauge a student’s abilities.

“If you can’t do this, you aren’t getting in my truck,” he said.

Riley Klasinski, another student in the class, said that the simulator isn’t difficult to use once you get the hang of it.

The students Bennett feels are ready graduate to driving one of Bennett’s vehicles – a standard transmission Western Star truck or a 40-foot Peterbilt van with a trailer attached. The class is set up for students to get up to 80 hours of behind-the-wheel practice. They can then take the licensing test once they are ready.

Bennett said he also teaches students about the inner workings of vehicles because that will help them if they have any vehicle trouble on the road.

“I want them, if they break down, to be able to call and say ‘my lower radiator hose blew,’ and know what’s wrong,” Bennett said. “That’s my goal, for them to understand the basics.”

BHS counselor Michelle Dahlberg said that while the school has offered a similar CDL program in the past, it is excited to offer the current opportunity to students, especially when a CDL license is a huge asset in the job market.

Heller said that is what motivated him to take the class. While he doesn’t know if and when he may use his CDL post-graduation, he is a volunteer firefighter for the Johnson County Fire Department, so a CDL will be useful if he wants to turn firefighting into a career, he said.

Klasinski said that the class will allow him to hit the ground running at his job with Carlat Construction, a job he intends to continue with post graduation.

Klasinski said he and his peers are aware of what a CDL license could mean for their future.

“If you have your CDL, you know there’s that many more jobs available to you,” Klasinski said.

Bennett has had his CDL since he was 19 and has never been without a job because of it, he said.

“No matter what, that CDL carries a lot of responsibility,” Bennett said. “You’re taking on a lot of responsibility, but once they give you that license, it can be a life changer.”

This story was published on March 6, 2025.