Howard County students participating in a newly revised automotive program will be taught with state-of-the-art equipment thanks to a renovation totaling about $3 million.
“Today we stand here and realize that our vision has come true,” said Mary Day, principal of the Applications and Research Laboratory, during a Thursday tour of the Ellicott City facility attended by about 60 school, county and state officials.
New classrooms were built, and automotive equipment ? including tire changers, brake lathes and car lifts ? was purchased. About 30,000 square feet was renovated during the past several months.
“This is really an awesome situation,” said Clarence Felder, construction manager at J. Vinton Schafer & Sons Inc. in Abingdon, which completed the renovation.
About 100 11th- and 12th-graders are registered for the automotive program, Day said. Students spend part of their day at the lab and the remainder at their home schools.
The system had operated an automotive program that turned into a general energy, power and transportation class during the mid-1990s, but its priorities changed, becoming more academic and career oriented instead of focusing on jobs, Richard Weisenhoff, coordinator of career and technology education for the system, told The Examiner in a previous article.
However, business owners and parents told school officials they wanted the program back.
“When this project was proposed, we wanted to make sure it was a success, and that?s why we [members of the Washington, Maryland and Delaware Service Station and Automotive Repair Association] started a pre-automotive program for ninth- and 10th-graders,” said Brian England, owner of British American Auto Care in Columbia, who served on the committee that recommended the program?s revival.
The pre-automotive program gives students an opportunity to learn about the field before they enter the school system?s program.
After students complete the automotive program and pass four tests, they receive a certificate and are eligible to receive up to 18 credit hours toward an automotive program at Community College of Baltimore County, said Kathy McNerney, lead coordinator at the Maryland State Department of Education for career technology education.
