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.