The new Automotive Youth Educational Systems program at Shawano Community High School will be officially unveiled at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 21.
The program will be held at the new state-of-the-art auto training lab at SCHS, 220 County Road B.
The program, headed up by automotive technology instructor Jeremy Hodkiewicz, attained its National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation certification last spring, which qualified it to become Wisconsin’s 15th AYES program.
AYES helps to build partnerships between affiliated schools and nearby participating dealerships and independents. The goal is to introduce a greater number of young people to automotive technology careers and to prepare them to meet the needs of prospective employers.
According to industry estimates, the demand for automotive service technicians continues to be strong. More than 400 additional technicians are sought each year in Wisconsin.
AYES experience will begin in the 11th grade and continue through the 12th grade, and will include paid, on-the-job training at a participating dealership.
For the school, the AYES partnership opens the doors to industry support through classroom training equipment donations and greater career opportunities for program graduates.
The Wisconsin AYES programs reach an estimated 1,800 students each school year. Last summer the program’s participating schools placed 55 interns at dealerships throughout southern, eastern and central Wisconsin.
The Foundation of the Wisconsin Automobile & Truck Dealers Association also operates an active scholarship program for automotive, collision, sales and diesel technology students. This year 102 applicants were interviewed for the scholarships. To date, 85 have received awards of Snap-on professional tools and partial tuition for classes in related programs at any one of Wisconsin’s technical colleges. Seventy-nine of the applicants are employed in the industry with three more jobs pending.