MT Training Center, located just south of Dallas, is not your average CDL school. This school was born out of a passion for helping people — founder Melissa Cuellar says she wanted to find a way to create lifelong careers while also supporting people in their time of need.
She didn’t start out in trucking.
“It’s really interesting, because I actually started my own medical transcription company when I was 21, and I did that for about six years,” Cuellar said. “Part of my job was to train people how to do medical transcription.
“In my bright, logical mind I thought, ‘Hey, if I can train somebody at work how to do medical transcription, then I can own a school where we can teach medical transcription,’” she continued. “I actually opened the school in 2001 when I was 27”.
As her business grew, people sought her out about adding different types of training options — including truck driver training.
“I was young, and I didn’t think (a trucking school) could offer different training programs,” Cuellar said. “I thought you just had to be JUST a truck driving school.”
Luckily, she says, she discovered this was a misconception on her part.
“I started exploring (the options), and in 2003 we implemented our very first CDL training program,” she said.
The school now offers training for numerous fields including barber and cosmetology, HVAC, diesel service technology, welding, gunsmithing, CNC machinist, advanced electrical lineworker, computerized accounting and — of course — four different CDL programs.
MT Training Center has earned national accreditation and is accredited by the Department of Education, which allows the school to accept financial aid for certain programs.
Cuellar understands that paying for training can be challenging.
“When potential students come in, I hear everything they say,” she said. “With cash-based programs, a regular six-week CDL training program is about $6,500. It can be hard to come up with that up front. People don’t have that kind of money.
“So, I started thinking outside of the box again, and I wrote a program for CDL individuals — an advanced CDL training program for the entrepreneur,” she continued. “We teach entrepreneurship, how to obtain your own authority and business planning all within this program while they’re also obtaining their CDL — and it’s federally approved. It gives them the opportunity either to sign with a company or become an owner-operator.”
Cuellar says she’s fashioned the program so that it’s cost-effective for students, with options like Pell Grants to help offset costs.
MT Training works to provide flexible options to meet individual needs.
Not all CDL students at MT Training are beginners, Cuellar says. Some have already earned a commercial learner’s permit (CLP) and don’t necessarily need to go through the entire program; they just need the drive time.
Other students have goals that don’t involve Class 8 over-the-road trucking. For instance, she says, a student who wants to drive a school bus needs a Class B license, not a Class A. MT Training offers pathways for both levels of licensure.
“(I want to) meet the students where they are and help with their specific needs,” she said.
For example, there’s a program for students who already have a CLP, and a program for those seeking to earn a Class B CDL.
“And if you don’t want to do the advanced CDL training program for entrepreneurship, which is 16 weeks, then we have the six-week option,” Cuellar said. “That’s where they start from the beginning. We help them get their permit and they do their drive time with us. They do their ELDT (training) with us, human trafficking — literally everything.
“But still, all roads at the Center — no matter which one they choose — lead to a license,” she continued.
Cuellar works to provide second chances for those who’ve made mistakes in the past.
Second chances for job seekers who have a criminal record are a rarity in the workforce, Cuellar says. She wants to give people those chances. It’s one of the reasons nearly all the training divisions at MT Training accept students who have served time or have arrests on their records.
“The greater majority of our students, other than those in the gunsmithing sector, have been previously incarcerated,” Cuellar said. “I feel like it’s a population that has kind of been turned away by society.
“Even early on in education, when we implemented the CDL training program, there were schools that would not accept people because they had been convicted of felonies or because they have served time in prison,” she said. “Our CDL program is background-friendly, as are (most of the) other programs here.”
It’s not just about training people for jobs. It’s about the student as a whole.
“We don’t only host programs,” Cuellar said. “I also pick and choose training programs where we’ll not set our students up for failure. I carefully choose these programs so I can make sure everyone is set up for success — as long as they do their part.”
Another thing that sets MT Training Center apart from other vocational training providers is the support it provides outside the classroom.
When Cuellar learned a student was missing classes on certain days because they had to stand in line at a food bank to feed their family, the idea for MT Hope House was born.
“We decided to establish a food pantry to assist the students,” Cuellar said. “They basically can go there and get groceries every single week — just enough to sustain them their families until they find gainful employment.”
To help financially support the food pantry, the Hope House Thrift Co. is scheduled to open April 25, 2026.
“I think it’s going to be a huge success,” Cuellar said. “We’re excited to see this new venture become a reality.”
Students are more than just a number.
Helping people earn the skills and certifications needed for a sustainable career is important, but Cuellar’s goal is to create a path to a sustainable life and career.
“People that come to us typically come to us like at a crossroads in their life — either previous incarceration, or they’ve lost their job for one reason or another. They come here at our mercy,” she said.
“That’s something I tell all of my employees whenever I interview them: ‘You have to understand the position that these people are in when they walk through this door. They’re at a crossroads. What can we do to make that transition better for them and make them feel confident in their decisions and lead them into a new career so we can get them to where they’re trying to go?’” she continued. “Watching their lives change is just incredible.”
Student support doesn’t stop after graduation.
Because most students can’t afford to simply stop working during a weeks-long training program, Cuellar says she works to help students find part-time employment to help make ends meet.
And, like many CDL training providers, MT Training Center offers career placement assistance as students prepare to graduate.
“We help them with resume-writing and interviewing skills, and we start giving them job leads,” she said. “We also have employers that come here on site.”
But the support doesn’t stop there.
“One thing I think that makes us unique to other campuses is that we also have lifetime placement,” Cuellar said. “For example, if a student graduates and goes to work somewhere for 10 years and then decide they’re at a transition point and need help finding a different job, they come right back to us. Our doors are always open, and we help them again and again and again.”
Cuellar and her staff serve their students with true hearts.
“We’re really trying to reduce recidivism. We’re really trying to change lives,” Cuellar said. “You have to be here for them always — not just while you’re collecting money from them.”
Cuellar has no plans of stopping. In fact, her eyes are on expansion.
“We’re looking to expand into a suburb of Houston,” she said. “We have a CDL-only truck driving school out there. It’s a branch campus. So, we want to do a branch in Austin and San Antonio next for CDL only.”
It’s not hard to find proof the system works.
“Last month I had my very first CDL student from 2003 come and visit,” Cuellar said. “He wanted to have a conversation just to say thank you for changing the trajectory of his life; he said thank you for ‘basically saving me.’”
Before earning a CDL through MT Training Center, this student had served 12 years in prison.
“He couldn’t get into another truck driving school because they wouldn’t accept anybody with a felony,” she said. “He told me, ‘You accepted me. I’ve worked all these years and I’m now retiring from my own logistics company.’ He’s made millions running his own operation. And I just couldn’t be more proud.
“That’s why we do it; that’s the driving force,” she said. “The driving force is you have to love what you do.”
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
