Abraham Lopez is the most up-to-date in a extended line of District 214 pupils to pursue their occupation fascination at Arlington Heights Ford.
The John Hersey Superior College university student grew to become an apprentice car technician at Arlington Heights Ford previous summer. Lopez graduated a semester early and now is doing work complete time at the dealership, although performing on his field teaching and certification.
The Ford dealership has partnered with District 214 for many years, featuring college students options to turn out to be interns in its service office. Lopez is the initially paid out apprentice. Apprentices at Arlington Heights Ford get the job done less than the supervision of a support technician — initially carrying out oil changes and program servicing on the dealership’s fast lube line just before moving on to larger repairs and inevitably doing work on their possess.
Lopez related with Arlington Heights Ford by means of the District 214 apprenticeship plan, now in its fourth 12 months. The apprenticeship software gives learners a opportunity to “master and receive,” working at paid jobs while also using regular high faculty courses as very well as programs in their preferred career discipline. The plan provides apprentice positions in the District, as nicely as with many business enterprise associates in the neighborhood — like Arlington Heights Ford.
There is a essential and rising scarcity of specialists in the automotive business. Jerry Hood, provider manager at Arlington Heights Ford, said Ford estimates that by 2030, the company’s U.S. dealership community will be 70,000 experts shorter of needed ability. That translates into expanded task opportunities and good commencing pay out for entry-amount educated technicians. Hood explained after professionals graduate from the Ford technician instruction system, they start out at $48 an hour at his dealership “and we spend for each little bit of the teaching,” he mentioned. Hood even tries to start his new experts with a partly loaded toolbox, which is often a large price for younger vehicle techs.
Hood explained apprentices like Lopez are a essential section of fixing the industry’s technician shortage. “He’s an excellent student. If everybody experienced Abe’s targets and do the job ethic, we’d be in great form,” Hood said.
Jim Van Bladel, Lopez’s auto tech teacher at Hersey, claimed, “Abe was enrolled in automotive technological innovation for four years at Hersey. He started out his apprenticeship about the summer time and graduated early to get the job done total time whilst attending a tech college to get paid his certifications as quickly as probable to grow to be a grasp tech. I have no doubt that Abe will complete his instruction and be a person of the most successful techs at Arlington Heights Ford.”