Instructors share how shops can get involved to bring more students into collision repair

Two collision repair instructors encouraged shops and the industry as a whole to get involved with their local schools and help where they can with hands-on learning to train the next generation of technicians.

Raven Luna, discipline lead of Collision Technology at Collin College in Texas, and Joe Amabile, auto collision technology instructor at Thomas A. Edison Career & Technical Academy (TECTA) in New Jersey, said schools usually have an advisory board or committee that shops can be members of, and colleges will sit on high school advisory committees.

Luna and Amabile participated in a Q&A-style webinar with the Collision Repair Education Foundation (CREF) hosted by Autobody News on Sept. 19. It can be viewed by registering here.

When asked how the industry can partner with schools to help recruit students, both said the most beneficial would be joining local school advisory groups. TECTA’s board and Collin College’s committee meet twice a year.

“Our advisory board [members] are a body shop or anyone in the industry giving us the insight, what’s new, what’s happening,” Amabile said. “Be an active member where you could actually give input if you have any old tools to donate, or any kind of help is always accepted in the schools, because we need it. And the more help we get, the better students that we turn out who can be possibly an employee for them in the future.”

Luna added that Collin College shares with its committee what is being taught and the tools and equipment that are being used to receive feedback from shops, and to find out if something new is being used in the field.

“We’re always just getting that pulse check of the industry through that advisory committee,” she said. “For us, it’s a really valuable asset to have just because, like Joe said, we’re not really in the shop doing the work anymore, so there’s a lot of stuff that we probably missed there; that’s a great avenue to support. Another option would be to come visit the schools.”

Luna and Amabile also asked that the collision repair industry have some presence and exposure with local school administration so that they’re aware of employer needs.

“Especially for high schools fighting for those dollars to be able to keep a program operating,” Luna said. “If they say, ‘Hey, we don’t have anybody or the industry expressing interest that there is a local need for this,’ then sometimes they allocate all of those funds elsewhere.”

Amabile added, “There’s no need, there’s no school. Our administrators are on our board, so they hear our conversations. They hear everything that’s going on.”

Amabile teaches high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors. TECTA offers two programs, one on Saturdays and one in the summer, for middle school students to pique their interest in the career and technical education (CTE) trades.

During the summer program, Amabile said students get a taste of collision, auto construction, cosmetology, nursing, engineering, and graphic print.

“By the time they come into high school, they have a better understanding of what they want to choose for their CTE program,” he said.

For collision, students sand, prime, and paint bowling pins to learn basic collision refinish processes.

“They did fantastic,” Amabile said. “They were all engaged, and they’re all curious.”

Middle school students also get to use TECTA’s simulation paint sprayer, which Amabile said is like a video game.

“It’s not exactly the same as painting, but once they get the skills down, then I can enter them into the spray booth a little bit more confidently,” he said.

TECTA guidance counselors also visit the local middle schools to promote the CTE programs.

Collin College visits high schools to share information about its collision repair program, which pulls in some future participants. Plus, some adjunct faculty also teach at high schools, so they tell students about the program, Luna said.

However, the age range of students in the program has been anywhere from 16 to late fifties/early sixties, with constantly increasing renewed interest from non-traditional students, Luna said.

Another way the two schools try to enroll more students is by talking to parents, typically during open houses.

“We tell them exactly what we do so they have an understanding, and we tell them the void that we’re trying to fill as far as jobs,” Amabile said. “They’re appreciative of how we explain it.”

Luna added, “It’s really cool to have conversations with parents who say, ‘Well, I didn’t realize that this is what this looks like.’ They say, ‘I thought this was just a dark, dirty job, and this place is cool.'”

“They always say, ‘I wish I had a place like this when I was in high school. So we’re slowly changing the perception of what CTE looks like, and it is just really nice to see that transition because for Collin County, a lot of parents really want to lean on sending their kids to a four-year college. We can transfer students out, and a lot of people don’t realize that either.”

She said there is also the opportunity to talk to parents at Collin College’s dual credit program orientation. Dual credit high school students take college courses and receive credits for them at both levels.

To help connect students to employers and showcase future jobs, Amabile said he takes his students on field trips to nice working shops where they can see tool demonstrations and participate hands-on with some operations, like resistance spot welding. The high school also takes students to trade shows to network and guides them in completing community projects, which also brings attention to the collision program.

Luna’s student field trips also involve seeing demos, such as a full-scale calibration, which isn’t possible at the school.

Both schools network with shops to help students find jobs in the field. Amabile’s also helps with shops that are interested in paid or unpaid internships.

Another option for shops to help schools is to take part in career fairs.

“We do get a lot of employers that come out and participate, and they’re so overwhelmed because they’re like, ‘Oh my goodness, there’s 200 people here that are ready to work tomorrow,'” Luna said. “It’s really cool to see that. And for the employers that are there, they get to see that there is still an interest in the industry; that there is young talent still waiting to come in.”

Both agreed that shops providing lightly damaged parts and totaled cars for students to work is beneficial for school programs as well, especially for teaching plastic repair and refinishing bumpers.

“Just reach out to us,” Amabile said. “We have plenty of students and they want to get hired. They’re eager, they’re not the best now, but they will be. We’re training them with no bad habits.”

Luna added, “We’ve got so many talented men and women that are here with any program really, because what we as instructors do is we really take them under our wing. We want to see them succeed. We like it when the light bulb turns on, when they understand something. It’s so rewarding. And we want to share that with the industry.”

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