DOUGLAS — A horn blast split the morning air at Eastern Wyoming College's Douglas campus, and a big smile spread across the face of Casper Girl Scout Octavia Ambrose, who was sitting in that truck, learning all about how and when to honk that horn.
The 6-year-old already has a lot of bright ideas about what to be one day when she grows up. She could be a teacher. She could be a veterinarian. She could even be a race car driver.
Being a truck driver, however, had never been on her list.
But there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be, her mother Jordan told Cowboy State Daily with a smile. And that’s the reason she brought her daughter from Casper to the Trucks are for Girls event to the Douglas campus of Eastern Wyoming College last weekend.
After honking the truck’s horn — fun — and climbing underneath the truck with Wyoming Department of Transportation Commercial Driver License Supervisor Erin King to explore how things worked under there — more fun — the 6-year-old has definitely noticed big trucks in a new way.
Now she knows it’s not impossible for her to grow up and drive one some day, if she wants to.
“My favorites are the buses,” she told Cowboy State Daily after climbing out from underneath the large truck.
Even though the horns aren’t as loud?
Octavia giggled at the question and nodded her head “yes” as she pointed at a nearby yellow school bus.
That could just as well be a tour bus, her mom pointed out.
That earned another giggle from Octavia, who was now ready to go and explore one of the buses.
“She’s at that age,” Jordan said.
That age where a 6-year-old changes her mind every day about what to be when she grows up.
“She just loves exploring everything,” her mom said.
WYDOT CDL Supervisor Erin King talks to a young girl about her truck during the annual Trucks Are For Girls Event, held every fall, at Eastern Wyoming College's Douglas campus.. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
WYDOT CDL Supervisor Erin King, right, answers Octavia Butler's questions about trucks, while mom, Jordan Butler, left) listens during the annual Trucks Are For Girls Event, held every fall, at Eastern Wyoming College's Douglas campus. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Octavia Ambrose joins WYDOT CDL Supervisor Erin King underneath one of the state's snowplow trucks, to learn more about how the big rigs operate during the annual Trucks Are For Girls Event, held every fall, at Eastern Wyoming College's Douglas campus. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Women In Trucking
Exploring everything is exactly what Eastern Wyoming College CDL Program Director Ed Kimes had in mind when he started the Girl Scout Trucks are For Girls event three years ago.
It comes at a time when trucking companies are short drivers, offering substantial sign-on bonuses and large salaries. The American Trucking Association estimates the country needs 78,000 more than it already has, a figure projected by some industry analysts to grow to 160,000 by 2030.
The Eastern Wyoming College event is the only one like it in the state, Kimes told Cowboy State Daily, but he’d like to see more of them. It’s filling a necessary niche, he believes, exposing young girls to a lucrative career field that few women have entered.
Just 12.1% of professional CDL drivers are women, according to statistics compiled by the nonprofit Women in Trucking, which encourages the employment of women in the trucking industry and works to reduce obstacles to their employment.
Kimes grew up around women who drove trucks and never realized that they were so terribly under-represented in the trucking industry, until later in life.
“I grew up in logging with my dad, and women drove log trucks and ran heavy equipment,” he said. “They drove school buses and ready-mix trucks.”
When he was 18, he went to work for a truck shop. That’s when he realized that wasn’t the norm.
“There were a whole lot less women driving trucks than I thought,” he said. “That was the first time I’ve been around the over-the-road world.”
More Truckers Needed
Trucks are an important part of modern society, moving just about everything that Americans depend upon every day.
Lumber and milk, eggs and electronics, molasses, oil, sugar, livestock and even live tropical fish — the list is literally endless. It’s everything that’s for sale in America, including the kitchen sink.
But the industry has a big problem. It’s short by tens of thousands of drivers.
Women could take some of those jobs, Kimes said, and create better lives for themselves at the same time. He sees it as his mission to raise awareness of that.
“If women realize that you can make a pretty good living in this business,” he said. “And let’s say that some are single moms, you can either work in a gas station which is not bad and you can make this dollar amount. Or you can get a CDL, work in this industry, still be home every night, and you can make a much better living.”
Octavia Ambrose, left, with her mom Jourdan, were among those who came to learn more about trucks during the annual Trucks Are For Girls Event, held every fall, at Eastern Wyoming College's Douglas campus. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) WYDOT CDL Supervisor Erin King talks to a young girl about her truck during the annual Trucks Are For Girls Event, held every fall, at Eastern Wyoming College's Douglas campus.. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Jordan Ambrose poses with her daughter Octavia Ambrose in front of one of the Wyoming Department of Transportation's snowplow trucks during the annual Trucks Are For Girls Event, held every fall, at Eastern Wyoming College's Douglas campus.. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Girls Can’t Hunt
Growing up, Dakota Muniz and her sisters called themselves their father’s “prettier sons.”
“He raised us to be tough, he made us tough,” Muniz said. “And being that all of his friends just had boys and we were the only girls, we always had to just kind of be tougher.”
When her dad’s friends told Muniz that girls can’t hunt, Muniz had an answer for that. An answer without words.
“I’ve been the girl who shot bigger animals than most of those boys,” she said. “More deer, and more elk and more antelope than them.”
When Kimes asked her to come up and speak about her family’s company, Refractories West, she was hesitant at first.
She handles logistics for Refractories West, a Colorado company which specializes in high-performing cement burner pipes.
Kimes wanted her to talk about what she does, because the logistics sector has lots of different jobs besides just truck drivers, including some who oversee truck drivers.
Muniz had never been asked to give a speech before. But Kimes won her over by explaining his mission, to empower more girls to become truck drivers and join the logistics industry.
The latter is something Muniz loves to see.
“Just because somebody says that only boys can, doesn’t mean you can’t do it,” she said. “This industry is always growing. We’re always going to need logistics and freight. And I just want to empower these young girls.”
Every time she sees another girl join the logistics circle in her sphere of influence, it makes her feel a little like the chorus line of the Shania Twain song, “Man! I feel like a woman!” The song opens with the line, “Let’s go, girls!”
“I’m like sweet, there’s another one of us in this industry,” she said.
The industry needs all of the women it can get, Muniz believes. It can no longer afford to snub half the population.
“A lot of older people are retiring,” she said. “And we’re kind of in this new era socially, too, where women are being more empowered every day. We can all just kind of do what we want at this point.”
A teenager named Shelby poses in front of her favorite truck Snowplows, big trucks, and a snow plow were just a few of the trucks on hand during the annual Trucks Are For Girls Event, held every fall, at Eastern Wyoming College's Douglas campus. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Snowplows, big trucks, and a snow plow were just a few of the trucks on hand during the annual Trucks Are For Girls Event, held every fall, at Eastern Wyoming College's Douglas campus.. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily) 
Octavia Ambrose smiles as she looks out not he world from a truck during the annual Trucks Are For Girls Event, held every fall, at Eastern Wyoming College's Douglas campus.. (Renee Jean, Cowboy State Daily)
Big Paychecks
The chance for a career with better pay is what inspired some of the older youths who attended the event, like Heidi Moore.
She’s not a Girl Scout, or at least not anymore. But the college-age woman is interested in the truck driving sector for a career change, so she volunteered to bring a family friend’s daughter, Lydia Tripp, to the event.
Tripp, who is in grade school still, actually wants to be a nurse, but her mom made her come to the event anyway. She wants her daughter to explore all the possibilities, rather than have tunnel vision about the future.
Tripp did enjoy getting to honk all the truck horns, she admitted, even if she’s still convinced that she wants to be a nurse.
Moore, meanwhile, got to ask questions about the new career she’s interested in while shepherding Tripp from truck to truck.
A truck driver with a CDL and a hazmat certification can easily make six figures starting out, while average pay for truck drivers is around $95,000, according to statistics compiled by Indeed. Those are much more lucrative figures than what Moore went to school for.
“I went to culinary school,” Moore said. “And this is something my husband and I have been thinking about, often.”
Others were also encouraged to think about the career by outside mentors, like 14-year-old Shelby, who did not give her last name. She’s been thinking about a career in cosmetology but knows a truck driving career could make a lot more money than that.
People in her life have encouraged her to widen her scope, and consider careers she’s not as familiar with, too, pointing out exploring is just that. It doesn’t mean she’s committing to a different career; it’s just making sure she’s choosing the option that best suits her.
“So I’m exploring,” she said. “And I just thought sitting inside the trucks today would be pretty cool.”
Getting to honk all the horns and watch people jump was also pretty cool, she added, with a grin, as was moving the plow around on one of the big trucks.
“It’s not hard,” she said. “It’s literally just a button. In order for the plow to go up, you have to push the button like back, and then for it to go down, you have to push it forward. Then if you bring it to the side, it goes to that side.”
The experience has already given her some confidence when it comes to these big rigs. She knows she could become a truck driver if she wants to. Though, if she did, it would probably not just be just for the salary.
“It’d probably be because you get to like handle the big vehicles,” she said.
The boost in confidence is exactly the kind of thing Kimes hopes to see from the event, even if he knows that a majority of the participants probably won’t become truck drivers.
“Trucking is connections and we’re a family of people,” Kimes said. “This is all volunteer, too. Fuel, time, equipment — I tell them all, we can’t pay you. But they come so these guys can have a chance to climb up in the cab, and then maybe in their future, some of them will choose this as a career.”
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
