GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A program at Green Bay East High School is getting students prepared for a career in automotive maintenance.
City Stadium Automotive students set down their pencils every day in favor of something a little more heavy duty.
On Tuesday, four seniors received a certificate of achievement for earning up to twenty-seven college credits to attend Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) next year.
The students come from varying backgrounds and with different interests.
Many of them, like senior Ivan Gonzalez, weren’t even all that interested in the beginning.
“I was never really into cars until I first started here,” says Gonzalez.
Turns out, a secret passion of his was discovered over the course of two years.
“Now, that’s pretty much what my life revolves around,” he explains.
The students that graduated from the program on Tuesday first started in their junior year.
At that time, any prior knowledge or experience was seen as simply a bonus and nothing more.
“Like, I really didn’t even know anything to start with,” admits Gonzales. “Didn’t even know how to check my own oil, to be honest.”
He says that a lack of industry knowledge in the beginning never stopped him from working hard and always trying to learn more.
“And at the end of the day, like my teacher Clint Braun always tells me, it just depends on how bad you want it,” explains Gonzalez.
For Mr. Braun, City Stadium Automotive Instructor, the gathering was extra rewarding.
He had taken that group of seniors under his tutelage and worked with them intensively for two years.
He says, their “lab” space is similar to any commercial garage in existence and the students are doing comparable work.
“Oil changes, tire rotations, changing tires, doing alignments, changing brakes,” says Braun.
For him, it’s an opportunity for students to have an experience that they otherwise wouldn’t and potentially unlock a career passion.
“Moving through this course they kind of get their hands into automobiles and kind of get to see if they like working on cars before they graduate high school and get a job in the industry,” explains Braun.
Next up, these students will be prepared to continue their education at NWTC to complete either a two-year Automotive Technician technical diploma or an Automotive Technology associate degree.
The students honored on Tuesday were Ivan Gonzalez, Osmar Morales, Sabrina Kiley (not in attendance due to prior obligations), and Roberto Alcala Nieves.
