Okay, a little about me. I love photography, aviation, and the transportation industry. I am a college educated truck driver in North Central Ohio. I have been married to my wife Raychel since 1998.
Photography has been almost a lifelong hobby for me. I took my first photography class when I was 12 or 13 years old. I learned how to shoot with an SLR and develop black and white film. I got my first SLR when I was about 15 or so. It was a Canon AE-1 Program. I loved shooting with it but was limited by how often I could afford film and processing. My first DSLR came in 2004 when I bought a Nikon D70. I am currently shooting with a Nikon D300, but I am in dire need of an upgrade.
I’ve always been interested in aviation, so on March 3, 2009, I took my first lesson. I was addicted and I knew it would be expensive. I promised myself and my family I would not break our budget with my new hobby. I Promised to pay for my pilot’s license entirely with money earned from my photography. I started shooting groups, sports, and senior photos and spending the proceeds on flight training. It took exactly two and a half years until I finally passed my test on September 3, 2011. After renting aircraft for several years, in December 2014 I bought my own airplane.
I started at my local community college, North Central Technical College (NCTC), right out of high school. My major was Mechanical Engineering, but I really didn’t know what I wanted to do. I just followed some friends and studied with them. I was still pretty immature at 18 and I didn’t take my classes seriously. I was thrilled that I finally had a choice whether or not to attend class or to goof off. More often than not I spent my days goofing off and skipping class. I found myself quickly flunking out so I dropped out altogether. I found full-time work and didn’t look back.
Fast forward 22 years. My career was going well and I wanted to move up the ladder and out of the driver’s seat. My employer has a tuition reimbursement benefit for those interested in going to college. I finally knew what I wanted, and that was to advance my career. I reapplied to the same college I started in 1985, although it had changed names over the years. The college was now called North Central State College (NCSC) and I set out on a path to obtain an ATS in Business and Digital Media. In 2012 I finally graduated with honors carrying a 3.83 GPA.
I am looking forward to the next 12-13 years of driving so I can continue to mentor other drivers at FedEx Freight. Outside of driving, my passion is the FedEx Road Team. I have been very fortunate to be able to work with our Road Team, as well as mentor our nominees for ATA’s America’s Road Team.
Randy Broderick 