MILES CITY, MONTANA: Miles City native Tyler Niedge grew up around trucks on his family’s farm/ranch/feedlot. He says that his first job was working as “free family labor” in the operation.
As Miles Community College’s CDL Instructor for the past three years, Niedge has helped navigate major changes in the program and has excelled in classroom instruction—so much so, in fact, that he was recognized with the “Excellence in Teaching” award during graduation in the spring of 2023.
Describing his typical day, Niedge explains, “In the morning I check students’ progress on Canvas curriculum and online curriculum. Then the driving instructor and I meet and discuss students’ progress or lack of progress.”
He adds, “We then discuss options for training or different ways of teaching skills.”
Once students arrive in the classroom, Niedge and the driving instructor outline the objectives of the day and then split students into “driving and non-driving" groups.
“These groups are on an every-other-day rotation,” Niedge says. “I keep the non-driving students in the classroom, and we work on curriculum. We also use the truck simulator on non-driving days to help students refine their skills. After lunch is a repeat of the morning.”
Niedge especially enjoys teaching CDL duty logging.
“Most students come in with zero knowledge on how to do it, and in a short time we have them paper logging with efficiency. It’s fun to see the quick growth of knowledge.”
Niedge describes himself as “happy, loyal, anxious, impatient, and goodhearted,” and in his spare time he likes to spend time with his wife and family. Though he still helps his family in their agricultural operation, he also likes to golf and attend local sporting events.
And he’s always wanted to travel. “I love to see new places,” he says.
Niedge’s best piece of advice is, “Treat others how you would like to be treated.”
