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Whitney Meek

Whitney Meek
Columbia, South Carolina
G&P Trucking Company
Scholarship Won: TCA Scholarship - $2,000

The first two years of my life were pleasantly standard, or so I am told. I lived in a great house with my great parents, brother, and two sisters. Little did I know that five months after my third birthday, my life would be forever changed. My father passed away, and my mother – previously a housewife – was forced to look for work to support her four children. Thankfully, that is when the trucking industry entered our family’s life by offering my mom a job. Because of the trucking industry, she was able to obtain both the financial support and emotional security she needed in pursuing her new role as a single parent. Now, seventeen years later, my mother is still employed with G&P Trucking Company. I honestly am not sure where my mother, myself, or our family would be today had it not been for them. The trucking industry has not only affected me personally, but also in an economic sense. I believe that many people take for granted all the work put forth to provide them with the products they need in their daily lives. When people walk into Lowe’s to buy light bulbs or a garden hose, they do not stop twice to consider how those products were transported there. They do not realize the hours of driving and scheduling that occurred to ensure the products’ safe and speedy travel. Yes, the trucking industry has played an essential part of my life, but it is also necessary to people who do not even realize it.