Automotive technology student Kylee Griffin took time from working on a tires to express interest in woking at Stoops Freightliner in the parts department.
Dean Brown | The Lima News
LIMA — Lima Senior career tech education provides students with the skills, knowledge and training necessary to prepare them for a specific career, further training or college studies. Career tech gives students hands-on experience and practical skills, as well as a theoretical understanding of the field they are interested in. “A Taste of Career Tech” offered the public an opportunity to witness the career tech offerings at Lima Senior.
Lima Senior offers career tech programs from agriculture and outdoor occupations to welding and metal fabrication. Students may choose from 12 programs. These courses are combination of classroom instruction, laboratory work and on-the-job training, with the aim of helping students build the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to succeed in the workplace and to pursue rewarding and fulfilling careers.
Auto technology at Lima Senior is striving to reach the goals for its students. Recently the auto technology department partnered with Stoops Freightliner in Lima to permit two students to work at Stoops. Kenny Melton and Takoda Beair are receiving additional on the job training from Stoops.
Cheryl Troyer is the Continuous Improvement Coordinator at Stoops Freightliner in Lima. She explained the problem that Stoops has been experiencing. ” We have a feeder school in the area. We got a lot of kids coming in and out for automotive. The problem that we faced was that kids would come here for a couple of years and then they would move back home. So we wanted to reach out to the local technical and vocational schools.”
Through a series of conversations with Stoops employees, Lima Senior was chosen to see if there would be any interest in a senior intern program.
Troyer said, “Right now we got two students from the auto technology program and we are going to do an internship until they graduate. Then we will re-interview them, see if it fits for both the managers (service and body shop) and for the interns. Then we’re fully prepared to offer them full time employment when they graduate from their program.”
By partnering with career tech schools, businesses can gain access to a pool of motivated and skilled students who are eager to learn and apply their skills in a real-world setting.
Reach Dean Brown at 567-242-0409
