When I drove my kids to school on a new section of road that I paved.

Hannah’s favorite type of work is paving asphalt. She has the ability to operate a variety of dump trucks and tractor trailers and is often behind the wheel of a truck that weighs 80,000 pounds when it’s fully loaded.

Just like a street with a fresh layer of blacktop, Hannah’s life got a new start when she completed Climb’s Commercial Driving program in Casper in 2020.

“Driving trucks turns out to be something I enjoy immensely,” Hannah says. “I don’t drag my feet. I love going to work.”

“Sometimes when people see struggle, they walk the other way. Climb does the opposite.”

-Hannah, Climb Wyoming Graduate

Since 1986, Climb graduates have contributed more than 44 million hours of work to Wyoming’s economy.

Because of addiction, Hannah struggled with housing and legal issues. Hannah says that, in addition to maintaining her sobriety, going to the training site every day to master driving skills gave critical structure to her previously chaotic life.

“I would always quit other trainings,” Hannah recalls. “Climb showed me how dedicated they were to me and gave me the consistency I needed. Sometimes when people see struggle, they walk the other way. Climb does the opposite.”

Hannah spent hours in the truck practicing her maneuvers and learning pre-inspection steps. When it came time for testing, she had to demonstrate backing into a narrow space and needed a 100% score on certain sections of the test to pass.

More than anything, gaining job skills has helped Hannah feel empowered, she says. “Before, I had this pattern of relying on someone else. I gave them power and then they took it away. Now I have built a life that nobody can take away from me.”

She adds, “My job has impacted my life in more ways than I can say. I have my kids back in my life, my own place to live, money in savings, and goals for the future.”

Climb has offered on-the-job training through work experiences totaling more than 487,025 hours.