Imagine attending classes for only eight weeks and swiftly landing a job that pays between $42,000 and $60,000 in the first year, and quite a bit more as time goes by.

It can happen—and it typically does—for those who attend the Truck Driving Academy at Amarillo College, where 97 percent of the men and women who enroll in the Academy successfully complete the coursework and land in an industry desperate for newcomers. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a present-day shortage of approximately 50,000 truck drivers nationwide, and that number is expected to increase as the Baby Boomer generation continues to retire. AC’s eight-week course utilizes state-of-the-art simulator training, classroom instruction and practical application to prepare students to successfully test for a Class A Commercial Driver’s License (CDL).