A pilot program at Fox Valley Technical College is putting the right tools for the job in the hands of high school students.
The goal: helping close a skills gap in the region that impacts everything from the automotive industry, to I.T.
The Automotive Youth Education System (AYES) will allow the area's high school students to come to campus, take a hands-on automotive class, earn credit for their diploma, and be that much closer to a career path before graduating high school.
For Fox Valley Lutheran sophomore Brian Dorschner, figuring out a future career path is no sweat.
"I like figuring out how stuff works," smiles Dorschner, who says his goal is to "get into the mechanic program, get going. It's been an interest ever since I've been… 10."
But getting your hands dirty while juggling high school can be tricky, especially when many high schools in the Fox Valley just aren't equipped to handle the demands of the automotive industry.
"It's pretty difficult for high schools, especially in smaller school districts, to put an automotive facility attached to their high school. The cost is very expensive," says FVTC auto tech instructor Todd Knorr. "A student who doesn't have that option may never have their eyes opened to the availability, and the potential, in the automotive marketplace."
Knorr says the program should reduce the time, and cost, between education and a job "in an ability to... keep the pipeline flowing into a high-demand field and industry."
They're real opportunities Knorr says the students will see while still in high school.
"So any student that comes through the first semester will be able to go get a job as a maintenance technician, or a lube technician," says Knorr, "at any of our local facilities right out of the gate by winter of their junior year."
It's a promise that intrigues Dorschner.
"Then you can get into it, and then it's easier to get a job," says Dorschner, "because you already have some background."
Knorr says the program will also feed into the college's larger automotive tech program.
"If a student completes all of the AYES program as a junior and senior, they will actually come in with the first year done," says Knorr. "So, they can get a two-year associates degree in a year and a half."
That, says Knorr, should make it easier for students, like Dorschner, to put anxiety over the future in the rear-view mirror.
Dorschner says he wants to "be a master mechanic, working on all sorts of engines-from manual, to automatic, and diesel."
College leaders say the pilot program is currently open to a class size of 32 students, with 15 already enrolled.
