Salisbury Student Helps Build Mack Truck at SteelStacks

Sophomore Casey Moyer is looking forward to going to the new Mack Truck Stop concession stand at the SteelStacks in Bethlehem this summer and saying “I helped build that.”

He has plenty of company. Moyer is one of 35 Lehigh Career & Technical Institute students who is rebuilding and refurbishing a Titan model Mack Truck that will be part of the concession stand at Levitt Pavilion at SteelStacks arts venue.

The truck will be installed next to the Mack Truck Stop in June, giving it the appearance that it is pulling a trailer, said Kassie Hilgert, senior vice president of marketing and advancement for ArtsQuest, which opened the Levitt Pavilion last year.

Hilgert praised Mack Trucks in Lower Macungie for contributing to the arts and culture scene at SteelStacks in a way that is in keeping with the industrial heritage of the site. “Then they went a step further,” Hilgert said. “They decided to reach out to partner with LCTI and find students to say, ‘Help us build this. Let’s get that workforce of tomorrow and get them involved with this project.’”

It was a good learning experience, according to Kyle Hartranft, a senior at Catasauqua High School. “It’s not like kids our age get to build a tractor trailer from the ground up,” he said.

“It was a lot more than just this lab,” said Moustafa Abdou, a senior at Allen High School. “It was a group of people who came together. There were some complications, we did run into some issues but we did learn from it and we corrected everything.”

Kevin Flaherty, president of Mack Trucks sales and marketing, encouraged the students to stick with the field of building and repairing trucks. “There is such a demand into the future,” Flaherty said. “You can pretty much pick where you want to live.” He said he expects Mack will being doing more partnering with LCTI in the future.

Randy Schock, LCTI diesel technology instuctor, said his students do everything from clutch and brake replacements to rebuilding engines but this is the first time they were able to build a truck from the chassis.

Carey Troxell, instructor in auto body technology, said the students are justly proud of what they've done. "We've never had a vehicle this large to work on," Troxell said.

 Flaherty said the project made sense because of Mack’s role in Lehigh Valley history. “The only place Mack builds trucks is the Lehigh Valley,” he said. “Our competition builds an awful lot of trucks in Mexico. We build all our trucks in America. We export trucks, not jobs.” 

The Titan model is the largest truck Mack makes and is featured on the show “American Loggers.”

Here are the LCTI students who participated in the project:

Auto Body

Kianna Conyer William Allen

Jorge Franco   William Allen

Darryl Miller     Parkland

Carlos Pabon   Dieruff

Marcel Parker  William Allen

Casey Smith     Parkland

Austin Stettler  Parkland

Brian Anthony   Parkland

Thomas Bovell  Dieruff

Nolan Rau        Emmaus

Nicholas Sharrer  Southern Lehigh

Welders

Martin Ortiz   Allentown School District

Tyler Metzger    Parkland

Diesel Medium Heavy Truck Tech

Derrick Downer    Emmaus

Elizabeth Hatfield   Emmaus

Daniel Daly Northwestern   Lehigh

Austin Fitzgerald Northwestern   Lehigh

Zachary Moyer   Northwestern Lehigh

Kyle Snyder   Northwestern Lehigh

Andrew Sutjak    Northwestern Lehigh

Eric Andersen   Parkland

Dallis Dietrich   Parkland

Jacob Koch   Parkland

Xavier Perez   Allen

Ranso Rubiera   Allen

Johnny Rodriguez   Dieruff

Chance Trantham    Northern Lehigh

Travis Iwaszek    Northwestern Lehigh

Kyle Hartranft   Catasauqua

Mackenzie Fegely   Northwestern Lehigh

Adam Dietrich   Northwestern Lehigh

Brandy Locher   Northwestern Lehigh

Ryan Brinker   Northwestern Lehigh

Brandon Casserino   Northwestern Lehigh

Jacob Betz   Southern Lehigh

Moustafa Abdou   Allen

Casey Moyer   Salisbury

Hector Ocasio   Dieruff