FEMALE TRUCK TECHNICIAN * USA: Repairing big rigs

* Minnesota - Breaking barriers while fixing trucks

-- Greasy black hands and a dull gray shirt can't hide the bright smile Nicole Porter wears as she steps up to a semitractor-trailer... After working in the parts and service industry in her home state of Utah, Porter started her education at WyoTech in Laramie, Wyoming. Porter was part of the inaugural Diesel Advanced Technology Education program, designed in part by Volvo Trucks. DATE is an accelerated program to put students on the fast track to securing a master technician status in the field... Now the 26-year-old spends her days at GATR Truck Center troubleshooting and repairing Volvo big rigs. Along with entering a male-dominated profession, Porter is a few classes away from receiving the highest level of certification for Volvo mechanics. And she will be the first female to do so... 
(Photo: Kimm Anderson, kanderson@stcloudtimes.com - Nicole Porter, 26, pauses to talk during the replacement of an alternator April 2 on a Volvo semitractor-trailer. Porter is on pace to become the first female master technician for Volvo Trucks) -- Sauk Rapids, MN, USA - The St Cloud Times, by Vicki Ikeogu - April 18, 2015