Cars are one of the great status symbols of high school life, as the freedom they provide marks a major transition from childhood and adulthood. Yet while most high schoolers are solely focused on getting heir license and buying cars, you will meet a certain group of students in the Academy’s Auto Tech class with a much deeper interest in the automotive world.
As a three part course which increases in complexity as students choose to stay for more years, Auto Tech allows students who enter the program knowing potentially nothing about cars, to leave with certifications and the knowledge necessary for a career in the automotive industry.
“Level one’s kind of an entry level lube tech,” Auto Tech teacher Erik Falk said. “Level two, by the end of the year they’re someone who could be hired easily by the industry as an entry level tech, and level three is someone who almost has a little experience in the shop.”
For some students such as senior and level two student Erik McIntosh, who plans on becoming an automotive engineer, Auto Tech as a significant step towards helping them achieve their future plans.
“[The class] gives you experience, resources, and tools that I wouldn’t be able to get access to otherwise,” McIntosh said. “In addition, universities come into our classes and give presentations, which helps a lot of kids get a degree and jobs. Mr. Falk also takes a few days in the year just to talk about related careers, so it’s really valuable for someone like me who’s not sure just how much schooling I need and where from.”
While not everyone taking Auto Tech does so with the belief that their future is in the automotive industry, senior Jamie Handley still finds value in the class.
“Personally, I don’t envision auto tech as a career,” Handley said. “I feel like the class gives me experience in the field and the possibility for a summer job.”
Falk does not expect everyone in the class to see their future in the Automotive industry, as he admits the many of the students are take the class as hobby enthusiasts who want to modify their cars, or those who want to learn the basics about cars so that repair shops do not rip them off in the future.
“The average person spends almost $3,000 a year maintaining their car,” Falk said. “You know even if you can knock off half of that you’re saving yourself a lot.”
Mock Shop, Real Work
While part of the class revolves around the theory of cars and how they function, both Falk and McIntosh point out the opportunity to do real work on cars as one of the strengths of the class.
“The cool thing about taking the class is that the students also get to work on their own cars,” Falk said. “We have a great student-auto sales program where people donate cars we fix them up and then we sell them and the money comes back to the program.”
McIntosh recently took advantage of this process by fixing up and buying one of the cars which was donated to the program.
“I would say the most rewarding aspect of auto tech is being able to buy a car from the program for a lot less than usual,” McIntosh said. “I’m buying the mustang that I’ve been working on for the last few weeks, and I can’t wait to get it on the road.
Whether the work the Auto Tech class does is for pay or not, McIntosh believes the experience is very similar.
“My friends laugh when I offer to do stuff on their cars,” McIntosh said. “But the reality of it is than in under a year and a half, I’ve become certified and capable enough to do almost any smaller job there is to to to a car, and because I’m not turning a profit, I can do it better than a lot of shops. You learn something every day here if you want to.”