California's Patterson High School is the home base of Dave Dein and his well-known, in some ways pioneering, CDL truck driving instruction program for high school students.
Dein was recently honored as Teacher of the Year by the California chapter of the Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE) for his work teaching and promoting the trucking profession to Patterson students. Dein's influence extends beyond just his local area, too. Since the 2017 start of the high-school trucking program as what might be the first such non-vocational-school program in the country, Dein developed model curricula being adopted and replicated elsewhere around the country.
Dein went on to advance in ACTE's Western region in the Teacher of the Year competition, and now will be one of five teachers competing for the national Teacher of the Year title. The program concludes in early December at the ACTE Vision Conference in San Antonio, Texas.
“Being chosen as the 2025 California ACTE Teacher of the Year was such an honor,” said Dein. “As I was presented with the award at this year’s Educating for Careers Conference in Sacramento, it became extremely evident that it was covered with the fingerprints of those who greatly impacted me and allowed me to stand here on this stage. I share this award with all those who have made a lasting imprint on my life.”
Dein's work with students sometimes extends beyond the classroom into the cultural touchstones around the wider trucking world. Here Dein (left) is shown in 2021 with then-current and other former students honoring Dein's father, Philip Dein, and other veterans at San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery during that year's Wreaths Across America event.
Dein’s gift and passion for sharing his love of the road has inspired many to take up the work of trucking. Three years ago, Dein hopped back into a truck to raise money for the Next Generation in Trucking Association nonprofit he co-founded. In addition to developing model curricula mentioned above, the nonprofit also awards scholarships to students looking to attend truck driving schools across the country, and works with schools to create and implement trucking programs like the one at Patterson High School.
Dein worked one summer for Morning Star Trucking, a company he drove for in the 1990s to pay for college, to raise money for Next Generation in Trucking. When Morning Star learned that he would be donating his salary to the nonprofit, they decided to match his earnings and make a donation, too.
