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North Stafford senior Justin Kane North Stafford seniors (from left) Jake Orlikoff, Nick Loving and Marcus Walton perform a computer analysis on a donated Honda Prelude. The school works with Automotive Youth Educational Systems to offer students internships at local dealerships. |
Amanda Kapec will never have to wait for a tow truck.
The Brooke Point High School junior knows how to fix a flat tire on her 1996 Toyota Avalon, and changes her own oil. She learned those skills and more in Brooke Point's auto technician program, where she's one of only a handful of female students.
"It's interesting to learn how cars work and I think it's fun," she said. "My mom thinks it's good that I'm learning it, she really wants me to pursue it as a career."
Kapec hasn't decided if she wants to be a service technician after graduation, but she said her auto class is never dull.
"You're always learning because the technology keeps changing," Kapec said. "I don't think it would ever be boring. I think it's a job you can enjoy if you really like cars."
Auto repair tends to be a recession-proof industry, since cars and trucks break down regardless of the economy.
Yet local dealerships face a chronic business dilemma--a shortage of well-trained, educated service technicians who can fix new cars with sophisticated computer systems.
"The image I grew up with, the rugged guy, the greasy guy fixing cars, that image has changed," said Ron Rose, service technician at Pohanka Honda in Fredericksburg.
Today's auto service technicians must adapt to constant updates in technology. Employers are seeking high school and college graduates with hands-on shop training and an academic foundation in math, reading and computer skills.
They're having a hard time finding people.
"You'll run an ad in the paper for a week and you'll only get two or three calls, and the people won't have the skills you're looking for," Rose said.
So Stafford County's high schools are hoping to provide the answer--positioning its graduates for well-paying career opportunities in auto repair and local dealerships.
The Automotive Youth Educational Systems program officially partnered with Stafford schools Tuesday during a ceremony at Brooke Point High School.
Launched in 1995, AYES is sponsored by a handful of automobile corporations. It matches high school students enrolled in auto technician courses with local dealerships that agree to offer job shadowing and internship opportunities.
Nationally, 330 schools in 45 states are enrolled, with more than 3,000 participating car dealerships. Locally, the Spotsylvania Career and Technical Center is already enrolled in AYES.
"AYES is a great avenue to recruit, train, guide and retain prospective young technicians as they develop the skills that the industry requires," said Jean Murray, superintendent of Stafford County public schools.
Combating a negative image of auto repair and maintenance is part of the program's goal.
Talking about salary will help achieve that goal, industry members and school officials said Tuesday.
The U.S. Department of Labor reported that the median hourly salary for an auto service technician at a dealership in 2002 was $17.66 an hour, or about $34,000 a year. AYES estimates most skilled service technicians earn between $30,000 and $50,000 a year, more in metropolitan areas.
At Tuesday's ceremony, Pohanka Honda donated three new vehicles for the county's auto technician classes. General Motors also donated two new vehicles.
The cars are greatly appreciated in teacher Lawrence "Mike" McMichael's auto tech class at North Stafford High School.
He currently has cars from the 1970s to 1995, leaving students with nothing current to work on until now.
"Now they'll be working on modern automobiles, what they'll be seeing out in the dealerships," McMichael said.
Edie Allyn, coordinator of career and technical education for Stafford County schools, worked to bring AYES to Stafford because it gives graduating seniors a boost in the job market.
"It gives kids an entire year of pretty intense internships, mentorships, with the dealerships before they graduate from high school," Allyn said. "So they're a good year ahead of all their colleagues."
Students will apply for summer internships in April, and accepted students will be matched with a dealership by mid-May, Allyn said.
The process will be competitive, she said. The goal is to eventually provide 40 to 50 students with internships each summer.
"We're going to have more students than we have spaces to put them at the moment," Allyn said.
Which makes the 19 dealership representatives assembled at Tuesday's ceremony happy. They're ready to put them to work, said Johnny Cates, Virginia AYES coordinator.
"We need students to be technicians, not gofers," Cates said.
To reach KELLY HANNON: 540/374-5436 khannon@freelancestar.com
