GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — The American Trucking Association says a lack of qualified candidates is contributing to a national truck driver shortage.

Gaston College offers a truck driver training program that is eight weeks long and covers a lot of the advanced areas companies are looking for.

Deborah Knox graduated from the program in 2011, taking her teenage daughter, Danicqua Knox, out on the road with her during summer break.

“I’d get her to unload the whole trailer with me, take a couple of hours but at the end of the day, she earned her money,” Deborah Knox says.

Knox's sons, Dontavius Cooper and Steven Good Jr., both took the truck driver training program at Gaston College, graduating two years apart.

When COVID-19 started offering more jobs for truck drivers handling deliveries, Danicqua Knox decided to take the course as well.

“There’s a lot of opportunities. I want to explore the world. I’m young, so I thought, why not,” Danicqua Knox says.

She passed her commercial driver’s license exam March 11. She plans to hit the road with her mother to get some more experience before looking for a job of her own.