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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (April 20, 2016)
THE NEED FOR SPEED CCC PAIRS WITH WORLD OF SPEED TO TEACH CRASH COURSE ON MECHANICS STORY AND PHOTO BY JAMES HARLEY A con nectio n betw een an autom otive m useu m and C la ck am as C o m m u n ity College has driven high school students to learn about cars while earning college credit. W orld o f S p e e d , th e au to m o tiv e and m otor sports m useu m located in W ilsonville, currently offers automotive classes to high school students. CCC allows them to learn about anything from the basics about m aintaining cars to fixing and repairing them . The classes are taught by CCC instructors in the workshop and also in the classroom. Students earn high school credits along w ith four college credits for each term they take the class. The autom otive program , w h ich is finish ing up its last term with the high school students before the summer, has students such as Jesus Loaiza grateful that a program like this exists. “ This program’ s been really help fu l,” said Loaiza. “ B efore I ’ d take m y car somewhere and have someone do the work and I’d pay money, and it’s good to know that I can now just do it m yself.” Students take the classes in three parts. W ith each term having a different focus. The first term focuses on basics such as oil changes and m aintenance, the second term focuses on brakes and technical parts, and this term the classes have been focused on sm all engine repair. The class also offers a “ free day,” when students typically bring their own cars to work on, which offers students experience from the class to make repairs on the cars with the help o f instructors. Jerem y G abriel, who w orks at World o f Speed as an autom otive teach er’ s assistan t, talked about how he enjoys helping kids learn about cars. “ T h e s tu d e n ts le a rn ju s t ab o u t everything,” Gabriel said. "Sim ple basic stuff such as oil changes and tire rotations to stuff like repairing transm issions.” G abriel also added that students are limited to a certain amount o f tools they can use, and said how better tools could help im prove the program , along w ith other obstacles. “ Because this program is so new, I think the m ain obstacle is to see how it plays out, and how to make it all work out, not only for us [the teachers], but also having it work out for the students so they can at least get som ething out o f this that will help them out forever,” Gabriel said. Chris Narve, who is a CCC student and is also an automotive teacher assistant, said, “ I really like w orking here. It’ s a really awesome experience being a teacher because you learn the most when you teach it .” W ith W orld o f Speed providing this kind of opportunity, some students can now save money by doing their own car maintenance, and even earn an automotive degree faster while taking fewer classes at CCC, saving them even more money. “ I w ould have loved to have th is opportunity in h igh s ch o o l,” G abriel said. “ These kids can work toward their autom otive degree w hile still in h igh school, which is a really great th in g.” “ I really like working here. I t ’s a really awesome experience being a teacher becuase you learn the most when you teach it.” -C hris Narve Teacher assistant Chris Narve (left) helps Isaiah Gutierrez repair a vehicle in automotive shop Cass at World of Speed.
