North Dakota State College of Science Diesel Technology students broke away from the classroom Tuesday afternoon and spent it learning about machinery safety.
First and second year students spent the first half of Safety Day viewing demonstrations of how to safely work with construction and farming equipment. The second half was spent operating the equipment which included trucks, tractors and other industrial machinery such as backhoes and front-end loaders.
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Many of the pieces of equipment are ones students will be working on when they get a job, said Diesel Technology instructor Terry Marohl.
"In the industry we work in you can not stress safety enough," Marohl added.
Titan Machinery, Wahpeton, Butler Machinery Company, Fargo, RDO Equipment, Breckenridge, and several other companies donated
their equipment and time to the event that took place at the Frank Vertin Field and the Earl "Skip" Bute Alumni Stadium parking lot.
"We're supportive of these events because we feel it's important to get these students exposed to all types of machinery," said Jay Kostelecky, Butler Machinery Products Support Manager.
Butler Machinery typically hires anywhere from 15-20 NDSCS students per year.
Titan Machinery, a company that has 53 stores throughout the Midwest, hires an average of 15 NDSCS graduates a year.
"They're very professional, usually well-cut and dressed nice," Jason Kroshus said. "They come out of the college knowing the basics." Kroshus is a representative from Titan Machinery.
Kroshus added that taking part in Safety Day allows representatives from Titan Machinery to meet students, ones that may be searching for a job in the near future.
"It's a way we can help out the college too," he said.
The day was a good experience for students, offering many a new experience.
"I've never drove any of these machines before, I like it," Tanner Flaaskog said, a first year student from Grafton.
Ethan Mabus, another freshman, from Jamestown enjoyed getting out of the classroom for the day and driving the equipment around.
"It's fun to run the stuff you're working on," Mabus said.