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March 15, 2000 10:30 AM, EST

When opportunity came knocking, Van O’Neal had an answer to fill the skyrocketing demand for truck drivers in Texas.

	Houston Community College
	The Roland Smith Commercial Truck Driving Complex features eight classrooms that are wired for teleconferencing and have computer simulators.

He took an abandoned rice mill and converted it into a professional driving school at Houston Community College.

Along with two other college employees, O’Neal rebuilt the 10,000-square-foot building and a 1973 big rig that was in the school’s repair shop. The hard work paid off in 1995 with six students participating in the opening of the college’s first truck driver training program.

They attended classes in the converted rice mill and practiced driving over four acres of rough concrete, asphalt and remnants of foundations from the abandoned storage buildings. Though that first driving range wasn’t the best, O’Neal said it did the job.

But getting it off the ground was not easy. Other obstacles laid along the path as O’Neal worked to see his seed take root. Perhaps, the toughest challenge was to convince school officials of the need for such a curriculum.

For the full story, see the Mar. 13 print edition of Transport Topics. .