Fred Pierce wasn’t getting much out of Greely High School before his junior year. Halfway through 10th grade, the Cumberland student was failing a few classes and wondering whether he’d graduate on time, let alone get his name on the honor roll.

Then he visited the Westbrook Regional Vocational Center, which also serves students from Buxton, Falmouth, Gorham, Hollis, Limington, Scarborough, Standish and Windham. He heard a teacher explaining how to maintain heavy equipment, including forklifts, bulldozers, bucket excavators and front-end loaders. He saw students moving piles of snow and sand with a skid-steer loader.

For a kid who loves pickup trucks and four-wheeling and snowmobiling, it seemed like heaven.

“I really wanted to be doing that,” Pierce said. “They said if I got my grades up, I could go there.”

So Pierce set his sights on improving his grades. He made sure he got his homework done. He started using study halls for studying rather than talking with friends or fooling around.

By junior year, his grades were good enough to enroll in the heavy equipment operation program at the vocational center – “the Voc,” for short. He started taking courses there every afternoon, following his regular classes at Greely High. He started making the honor roll. And he loved it.

“Every day I went to the Voc, I was excited to be there,” Pierce said. “I was happy to be doing what I enjoy and what I want to do in the future.”

During his senior year, Pierce worked on an independent study project overseen by Mark Bay, coordinator of the alternative pathways program at Greely High. Pierce learned about personal and business finances through the lens of his passion for trucks. He researched everything related to buying a truck for a business, from selecting the best vehicle to financing it through a credit union. He learned about credit scores, interest rates and loan applications. He even met with truck sales people.

“Mr. Bay supported me the whole way and kept me focused,” Pierce said. “He was always asking me what I wanted to learn about. Further down the road, when I want to buy a truck, I’ll know what to do.”

Pierce also had a weekly internship at CMP Constructors in Freeport, where he helped the company’s master mechanics repair and maintain heavy equipment. And for his senior project, he restored a 1987 Chevrolet pickup that wowed school officials when he presented it last month.

Pierce’s future plans include working with his father, Robert, at R.A. Pierce Excavating in North Yarmouth.

“Someday I’d like to run the business myself,” he said.

– By Kelley Bouchard