Two IVCC truck driver training scholarships awarded

Two Illinois Valley Community College truck driver trainees are the first recipients of a new truck driver training scholarship presented through the IVCC Foundation.

Thomas Scholle and Douglas Brue were each awarded $4,000 through the Steve Mobley Memorial Scholarship, which was established after Mobley’s death in 2025. Mobley, of Princeton, was among the first classes to attend the IVCC Truck Driver Training Program and often said the experience changed his life because it gave him a new direction and opened the door to a successful career.

Mobley entered the trucking industry and purchased his first truck in 2015. He expanded his company, Brush Kreek Trucking, acquiring additional trucks and hiring drivers. Among those drivers was his son, Wyatt, who followed in his father’s footsteps to IVCC where he also completed the Truck Driver Training Program.

Mobley’s family hopes the scholarship will lead others to a career that is as meaningful, enjoyable, and fulfilling as Mobley found it.

Brue said he is grateful for the scholarship award. “I did not know Steve, but from what I could tell, we may have had a thing or two in common. I have a large family to support and this scholarship means the world to me.”

Scholle said this experience will help him serve his community as a lieutenant with the Spring Valley Fire Protection District. “This scholarship is more than an opportunity for me; it is an investment in the safety of our community."

If you are interested in contributing to the Steve Mobley Memorial Scholarship, please contact Tracy Beattie, executive director of the IVCC Foundation, at 815-224-0550, or mail a check to:  IVCC Foundation, 815 N. Orlando Smith Road, Oglesby, IL  61348 and indicate in the memo that the donation is for the Steve Mobley Scholarship.