Dan Cunningham

Motorcycle/Power Equipment Technician program

Dan Cunningham uses skills he learned at MTTI every day at his shop, DC’s Cycles, Accessories and Service in Westfield, Mass. “I remember some of the things my instructor, Jay Coffey, taught me--how to deal with customers and how to order parts. There’s a lot of things there that I’m doing just about every day.”

Before enrolling in the Motorcycle and Power Equipment Technician course he was working in a small shop in Bellingham, Mass. The owner told him about MTTI.

“I enjoyed (the course) a lot,” Cunningham said. “The instructor is very knowledgeable, and (President) Ward Ring is very knowledgeable.”

"The program gave him a lot of confidence. “It let me attempt jobs that, before I went to school, I wouldn’t have the guts to do,”

When he graduated in 2004, Dan went back to Bellingham until that job ended. Then he moved out to Westfield and worked in a garage before starting his own business in October 2004.

“It’s a great course. Of course, a lot relies on you as a student,” Cunningham said. “You get out of it what you put into it. I know it’s a cliché, but it’s true.”

He said it’s not just the information, but the camaraderie, that makes the program special. “During the class I buddied up with a guy from Florida and we still talk,” Cunningham said. “That’s a friendship I think I’ll have for the rest of my life."