CNM Student Finds a Fresh Start in the Driver’s Seat

Lee Renninson is part of the newly launched Industry Credential Pipeline Program (ICPP).

The program, a partnership between CNM Ingenuity, the New Mexico Department of Transportation, and the New Mexico Department of Workforce Solutions, is designed to prepare New Mexicans for high-demand careers in the transportation sector.

For Lee, the program was fate.

Earlier this year, Lee was working as a swamper, also known as an assistant worker, with a transportation company in Farmington when he was injured on the job.

“I had been hooking up a bed to a truck—hooking cables to a section of the rig—and after doing that repeatedly for a few days straight, I tore my rotator cuff and a few other muscles around my shoulder,” Lee said.

After the incident, Lee was placed on unpaid medical leave and eventually let go.

“I was down on my luck but leaned into my faith and asked for some kind of break,” Lee said. “The next day, it was like right place, right time.”

While at the Department of Workforce Solutions in Farmington for an interview—after filling out unemployment paperwork—Lee learned about the ICPP.

“She asked if I had a résumé. I said yes, but I didn’t have a copy with me. So I ran to the closest Staples, printed a hard copy, came right back, and she said, ‘You’re a perfect fit,’” he recalled.

A few weeks later, fully recovered from his injury, Lee was enrolled and starting classes at CNM in Albuquerque. The program covers his tuition, as well as room and board, so he can stay in Albuquerque during the week for classes.

A self-described “small-town country boy,” Lee has been around and working with heavy equipment his whole life—helping his dad on the farm as a kid and later working manual labor jobs after graduating high school.

“It’s second nature to me,” Lee said. “A lot of what we learned in the heavy equipment class I was already familiar with, so I’ve been able to help my classmates succeed by sharing that knowledge.”

Lee is currently completing the Commercial Driver’s License portion of the program and appreciates his instructor’s teaching style.

“I’m a hands-on learner and have always struggled learning straight from a book,” he said. “But our instructor has gone over the information, highlighted key points, broken it down, and then we’ve discussed it as a class. That approach has really helped the information stick.”

Lee is set to complete the program this fall and already has a job lined up with the Department of Transportation in Bloomfield where he’ll be driving a truck.

“It’s a huge step up from being a swamper, where I was basically a truck drivers assistant, now I’m in the driver’s seat,” he said. “This whole experience has been such a blessing. After learning about the program, I explored some other job opportunities just in case, but it was like the people I needed to talk to weren’t around—and I think there was a reason for that.

“I truly believe this was the break I was looking for.”