New Relationships with Employers Boost Competition and Bring New Internships to MPC
Winners of the MPC Skills Challenge, flanked by MPC faculty
James Lawrence, Department Chair for Monterey Peninsula College’s (MPC) Automotive Technology Department, partnered with Pam Gutman, ATRE-DSN, to plan and facilitate MPC’s 2016 High School Automotive Skills Challenge Day. The High School Skills Challenge is an annual event held at MPC to build pathways with their local high schools’ auto programs.
Four local high schools: Carmel High School, North County High School, San Benito High School and Seaside High School send approximately 45 students each year to compete in various events, including a Vehicle Inspection test, Component ID, Bolt Sizing and Bulb Testing, and the Technician Certification Exam.
Students compete in teams and each segment of the challenge is scored. The winners are announced at the end of the day and awarded the annual trophy which is moved to the winning school each year.
Tesla Brings Model S to Skills Challenge
After reviewing the current structure of the Skills Challenge, Gutman worked with Lawrence to add two new components to the event. Gutman invited Tesla to participate in a new competitive module for the student teams entitled: “Automotive Technology Past, Present and Future.” During this module, each auto manufacturer gave a short presentation about the important automotive technological developments embodied by their specific automobile.
Tesla accepted Gutman’s invitation and brought a Tesla S car to the Skills Challenge. A Tesla technician spoke with the four high school teams about why the Tesla car has been such an important technological achievement in the automotive world. The students were then quizzed about the content of the presentation.
Employer Panel Discussion Insightful for High School Parents and College Participants
Career Panel: Snap-On, The Victory Dealership Group, and the Cardinale Group
Gutman also created a panel discussion focusing on Careers in Automotive Technology, targeting high school parents, administrators, school counselors, and faculty. Gutman recruited new automotive employers, including Tesla, the Victory Dealership Group, and the Cardinale Group to join two long-time Advisory Committee Members, Snap-On and Tom’s Auto Repair. It was the first time that automotive dealerships had participated in the event.
Gutman facilitated the panel discussion, asking each panel member to discuss the career opportunities available to students at their respective companies. Audience response was overwhelmingly positive to the panel discussion. Lawrence later reported that the panel was the highlight of the day’s events. Future Skills Challenge Days will include the two new activities.
New Relationships Bring Internship Opportunities to MPC
Since the High School Skills Challenge Day, the new automotive partners introduced by Gutman have remained involved with the college. For the first time, the MPC auto program has internships with automotive dealerships. To date, Tesla has hired three interns from MPC and the Victory Dealership group has hired three interns, as well.
MPC is looking forward to having Gutman conduct the Career Panel again in 2017 and taking these employers relationships and others to a ‘partnership level’ for the college.
