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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 30, 1997)
Wednesday, April 30, 1997 New program focuses on future CHRISTINA MUELLER Feature Editor Clackamas will pilot a new auto collision program in aluminum weld ing that is intended to become a stan dard program to premier auto colli sion training centers across the coun try. The program will be designed by Clackamas instructor Marc Essig and the Inter-Industry Conference of Auto Repair (I-CAR). I-CAR is a national organization established to provide training for collision repair technicians. Essig has been a member of the I- CAR education foundation board of trustees for three years. The aluminum welding training will be beneficial to students now and in the future because more and more vehicles-£re being constructed with aluminum. “Aluminuni vehicles are coming and they're going to hit us like a bombshell,’’ said Essig. ’ There ardOrrentty twb fully alu minum cars, the Plymouth Prowler and the Acura NSX. And there are 40 cars with aluminum components. “In the 1998 vehicles, even in the domestic American cars, there will be more and more aluminum com ponents. I am estimating that by the year 2000, you are going to see the majority of vehicles being made out of aluminum,” Essig predicted. More vehicles are being made out of aluminum because of the many ad vantages versus steel. Aluminum is lighter, stronger, it takes less energy to produce and it’s 100 percent re cyclable. “Most body technicians can weld steel but most of them cannot weld aluminum at all,” Essig explained. The new program will differ from the traditional I-CAR class, which is a traditional classroom setting. The aluminum welding program will be more of a hands on experience. In addition to the class, Clackamas will be a test center for the program which will allow students to become certified in aluminum welding. The class and test should begin next spring. Essig will be on sabbatical fall term. He plans to spend the entire time working on completing this The majority pilot project. “This pro POpUfattOpOj gram is being strongly endorsed & world ' I by all of the colli betfer accept sion industry, particularly the in thatW^re surance industry, runningout because they want to make sure that of dinosaur the technicians blood. , have this knowl edge,” said Essig. The weld Marc Essig ing facilities at Automotive Clackamas have Department been "massaged" Chalrt equipment-wise in order to be able to provide this train ing in auto collision repair. Clackamas is currently an I-CAR test center for steel collision repair. Most other schools in the country do not have and are not planning to get this new program. “Most people don’t know the alu minum car is coming. There will be tremendous changes in the car in the next three years,” Essig said. Essig predicts the next cars will be designed by use. They will be de signed for one to two people com muting to and from work. The cars will get good gas mileage and will be more economical. “The majority of the population of JJ the world better accept that we’re running out of di nosaur blood,” said Essig. According to Essig, the new cars will be smaller with alter native fuel sys tems, whether al cohol or solar. Battery technol ogy is also be coming more re An Acura NSX, one of two fully aluminum cars in the United fined. People can States - the other being a Plymouth Prowler - was donated to the drive to and from college for use in the aluminum welding program. work and not have to charge the bat tery for -two or three days. Essig said. “We have a national cri iiW- “Oregon, like most of the west is sis in the collision industry, of not very dependent upon the vehicle. enough technicians coming into the Wehavea We’re not going to see Tri-Mct or field.” Max Light Rail going to Condon or The industry is losing 20,000 tech national crisis John Day. We’re going to get over nicians a year due to retirement, pro- in the the mountain car,”' ex motions or leaving the profession. The industry only gains 7000 new plained Essig. collision Essig predicts that mechanics on technicians each year. industry. In the past five to six years, the av the new cars will be easier to learn than the collision Repair of the cars. erage is five to six job openings for The next challenge is to see who every student in the Clackamas pro can get the most horsepower out of gram. The starting wage for collision re the smaller engine. Marc Essig At the recent I-CAR board meeting pair is $8 to $ 12 per hour, and $30,000 Automotive Allstate Insurance Company donated potential in three to four years. Department Chair Essig stresses that the collision re $30,000 to the I-CAR program to develop new automotive programs. pair field is not limited to men. More than two dozen women have gone Aluminum was one of them. The aluminum welding program through the collision repair program. will be funded by the tuition costs. Making $40,000 to $60,000 a year is The cost will pay off when the stu not uncommon for technicians in the dents leave with knowledge that 99 field. Essig explains collision repair as “a percent of the technicians in the in great career choice which has excep dustry do not have. “Due to cutbacks in our education tionally high wages.” The aluminum welding program, as systems, particularly in K-12, the ca reer exploration programs have been well as the changes happening in new eliminated. Particularly the automo- cars, is guaranteed to change the auto tive and mechanical programs,” world. JJ Estonian Composer to visit Clackamas JOEL P, SHEMPERT Staff Writer Veljo Tormis, an Estonian composer, who is renowned not only in his native land but worldwide, will grace Clackamas with his presence on the week of Monday, May 5 through Sat urday, May 10. Tormis, through the efforts of the Clackamas Chamber Choir and the Portland-Tallinn Friendship City Asso ciation, as well as the Clackamas Cho rale, the Portland State University Chamber Choir, the Portland Sym phonic Choir and the Cleveland High School Choir, will be flown to the states. He will be accompanied by con ductor Hirvo Surva to work with the choirs, who will be singing some of his compositions. Lonnie Cline, conductor for the Chamber Singers and Clackamas Mu sic Faculty Member, met Tormis when the Singers toured in Estonia last year. “I said that one of my dreams was to meet Arvo Part and Veljo Tormis... and Hirvo Surva, who was one of the con ductors approached Tormis and told him that there was an American Choir from Portland ... and that the conduc tor would like to meet him and just talk with him. And so he consented to do that,” said Cline. They met and talked. It was then that Cline first sowed the seeds for the event which is now to take place. “I also asked him if he would like to come to the United States and work with some choirs, and [told him] that we would like to do a concert in his honor and in the honor of Estonia.” Cline related. This is unprecedented and likely to be a unique event in Tormis’Tife and It san insult to go to another country if you can't speak their language.11 Veljo Tormis Estonian in the our country’s musical history. Lonnie Cline explains: “At first he said no. He said, ‘Why don’t you come to Finland, and I’ll work with you there.’ And he said he had already made it public that he would never leave Estonia again. And he said that it’s a problem with the language bar rier and that he feels that it’s an insult to go to another country if you can’t speak their language.” “So I said that we could have some body meet him and travel with him as an interpreter. And we could put him up in an Estonian home. So I got up to do something else for a minute and while I was gone he leaned over to Hirvo and said, ‘Well, maybe I will go,”’ Cline said. The motivation behind this endeavor is complex. It involves a love for the music of a man or country. It also in volves a desire to honor that man and country, as well as to giving a unique opportunity to students and listeners. “We’re negotiating to get a boy so- See Estonia, page 5 EARN COLLEGE CREDITS KinderCare' Preschool & School-Age Activity Leaders Are you tired of working weekends,nights, and holidays? Do you enjoy helping children learn and grow? . , , ., ' Are you talented with arts, crafts, music, sports, or story-tellins? If so, come talk to us at KinderCare! 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