Photo credit: College of the Canyons
Gary Sornborger has big plans for the automotive department at College of the Canyons. He built the program from scratch 15 years ago and is poised to expand it to cover alternative-fuel vehicles.
Sornborger is also working with two groups for whom automotive training can help with their transition into normal life — returning veterans and soon-to-be-released inmates. The idea for these programs dates back to Sornboger’s time as an independent auto body shop owner, where he taught inmates from the Pitchess Detention Center chosen in groups of 15 at a time by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.
Photo credit: College of the Canyons
He hired many of the people who came out of that training program and said they became some of his most loyal employees. He saw a similar opportunity with disabled veterans coming back to Southern California’s military bases.
At the same time, Sornborger was part of the industry advisory board at Pierce College. He started teaching there and turned the professional mentorship for inmates and veterans into an internship.
“Trying to get technical training in these situations is tough,” Sornborger said. “It turns out that I had all the right stuff to teach, so I started teaching and hiring the best techs from my classes.”
While he was at Pierce College, Sornborger was approached by College of the Canyons about starting a brand new automotive program there. Again, he recognized an opportunity to partner with Saugus High School to use their auto shop classroom and provide an opportunity for high school students to receive college-level instruction.
Sornborger worked closely with Karl Boeckmann, Vice President of Galpin Motors to get this program underway. “All the negotiating between the Hart Union High School District and College of the Canyons was done at Galpin Motors and by Karl to start the program,” he said.
Though he’s achieved a lot of success thus far, Sornborger does not plan to stop anytime soon. He hopes to expand the program at Pitchess Detention Center to serve more students and broaden the College of the Canyons automotive curriculum to include hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles.
“I started the automotive technology department at College of the Canyons from scratch 15 years ago,” Sornborger said. “It has expanded, and I am proud of it, but I want to grow more.”
