LARAMIE COUNTYCOMMUNITY COLLEGEDriver's Education
The driver’s education course is a program consisting of 30 classroom hours, six hours of in-car instruction (outside of classroom hours) and six hours of observation as set forth by the Wyoming State Department of Education. The course meets the basic requirements of the Wyoming Department of Transportation.
REQUIREMENTS:
- one parent must attend the first ½ hour to hour of the first class (for those students under 18);
- student must have their driving permit prior to registration;
- student must provide their own licensed and insured vehicle for the one-on-one driving portion of the class and;
- attendance is required at each class for the certificate to be issued. Students who do not successfully complete the course may be eligible for additional instructional time for a fee.
Meet the Driver's Education Instructors
In-Car Driving Instructor
Brian Kozak retired as the longest serving chief of police for the City of Cheyenne, where he instituted many innovative best practices in policing. He is best known for his commitment to traffic safety, starting the first DUI taskforce in Wyoming and launching High Visible Enforcement, which reduced crashes by 30 percent.
He served on the Highway Safety Committee for the International Association of Chiefs of Police; the committee advises police departments across the County on best practices in traffic safety. Brian served as a police officer for 35 years; he spent 12 years as a motorcycle officer with the police department in Mesa, AZ,. As a motor officer he conducted over 10,000 DUI/vehicular homicide investigations and issued over 50,000 traffic citations. Brian is certified as an expert in the signs of drug impairment as it relates to driving and has conducted over 500 drug evaluations on suspects.
He has a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s degree in secondary education. Brian also serves as an adjunct professor of criminal justice for Laramie County Community College.
In-Car Driving Instructor
Manny began his law enforcement career in 2001, serving in his home state of New Hampshire.
He worked for multiple small-town agencies serving in capacities such as patrol officer
and juvenile officer. In April 2008, Manny relocated to Cheyenne to work for the Cheyenne
Police Department. After working on patrol for a few years, Manny became a School
Resource Officer first serving at Johnson Junior High School then transferring to
South High School in April of 2016. Currently, Manny is also serving as the President
of the Wyoming School Resource Officers Association. Beyond course instruction, Manny
enjoys umpiring baseball and traveling.
With a passion for working with youth and several years of experience on the road, Manny looks forward to enhancing the learning experience for those participating in the LCCC Driver's Education Program.
Dan Gillgannon is a life-long Cheyenne resident and is currently working as a third-grade
teacher for Laramie County School District #1. In addition to teaching, Dan has enjoyed
coaching elementary school flag football, boys’ and girls’ basketball, volleyball
and track. Before his teaching career, he drove professionally for twenty-plus years,
most recently for a parcel delivery company, logging more than 100,000 hours of drive
time in company vehicles.
Dan teaches utilizing the five habits of safe driving, he teaches the framework for lifelong habits that ensure drivers, passengers, and others sharing the road enjoy a mishap-free driving career.
In his free time, Dan enjoys the outdoors and spending time with his family.
In-Car Driving Instructor
Kevin Malatesta is a current police officer and a prior teacher. With this background
he brings knowledge of safe driving habits and statutes along with a learner focused
approached to driver's education. Kevin is currently the Public Information Officer
for the Cheyenne Police Department where he focuses on public education, with driver's
safety being a high priority.
Prior to becoming a police officer with the Cheyenne Police Department in 2013, Kevin was the assistant coordinator of GEAR-UP at LCCC, helping to make Jr. High and High School students college ready. Kevin also taught English for two years in Armenia through the US Peace Corps.
As an in-car driving instructor at LCCC, Kevin wants to ensure that students learn to drive safely and carry forward the lessons of driver's education into a lifetime of safe driving habits.
In-Car Driving Instructor
In my 25-year career working in law enforcement, I have had the opportunities to work
in many capacities. One of those areas was with the traffic division investigating
major crashes. The importance of safe driving impacts all of us. My goal with my students
is to instill confidence in each student so they know they can learn to be safe and
proficient drivers. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my daughters and my
dog Bailey. I also hike, hunt, fish and ride motorcycles. I look forward to working
with each student to do my part in teaching the next generation of safe drivers.
In-Car Driving Instructor
Rob has been an in-car instructor with the LCCC Driver's Education program since 2014.
When working with students, his goal is to instill mental and physical driving skills
to help make students safe drivers and to mitigate risk using situational awareness
techniques in everyday driving situations. Rob strives to create a fun, high-challenge,
low-threat learning environment for students when driving, regardless of the student's
experience level, using positive reinforcement. He feels honored knowing the lessons
learned in our program can prevent accidents and save lives, which is the ultimate
goal.
Rob was raised in Cheyenne and graduated from Central High School in 1988 and joined the Air Force soon afterward. Following his initial enlistment, Rob attended Cheyenne Airmotive School of Aviation in Cheyenne, Wyoming, and obtained an Airframe and Power plant certification and went on to earn his Associate's Degree from Westwood College in Denver, CO. In addition to teaching driver's education, Rob is also a certified motorcycle Basic Rider Coach through the Motorcycle Safety Foundation and has been coaching Moto classes since 2008. He enjoys outdoor recreational activities, fitness, riding his motorcycle, and spending quality time with his family and pets.
In-Car Driving Instructor
In 1987, Chad Seidel began his career working as a "company driver" and off-road message
carrier for his unit while serving in the United States Marine Corps. Upon his discharge
in 1990, Chad joined the Cheyenne Police Department. His prior experience with formal
vehicle operators training helped Chad become the agency's lead Motor Officer Instructor
and also the agency's Emergency Vehicle Operator Instructor. Chad trained with the
Denver Police Department to develop a driver training program for the Cheyenne Police
Department. His training program focused on both classroom and hands-on driving to
produce safe, responsible vehicle operators.
He was certified with the Motorcycle Safety Foundation as an instructor and worked
with the State of Wyoming to provide Basic Rider training to students interested in
learning how to ride a motorcycle.
Chad is now an in-car driving instructor for the Laramie County Community College and looks forward to assisting your new driver develop lifetime strategies to better identify and reduce the risks associated with driving.