LOWER LAKE, Calif. – A new educational facility at Lower Lake High School will offer students the chance to learn valuable career skills and also will help fill a need for well trained and certified automotive mechanics.
The high school’s new auto shop had its grand opening in a small ceremony on Wednesday evening.
Dana Moore, Konocti Unified School District’s director of classified services, said the new building is 3,600 square feet, with eight automotive repair bays, a classroom, tool room and locker room.
Funding for the automotive program and the shop itself came from Proposition 1D vocational money – Lower Lake High was one of the first schools in the state to receive the funds – as well as a grant written by Karen MacDougall, wife of Konocti Unified Superintendent Dr. Bill MacDougall.
Work began on the shop last September and was completed in April, according to Bill Gabe, the auto shop teacher.
Bill MacDougall said that five years ago – while he was still Carlé Continuation High School’s principal – he was asked by then-Superintendent Dr. Louise Nan to work with career tech educators in the district to create a premier school-to-career program.
A new automotive repair program – and the new facility itself – grew out of that effort, he said.
Lower Lake’s automotive program – the only one of its kind in Lake County – also will certify students as mechanics, said MacDougall.
“That will put our students ahead of the game,” he said.
Gabe said it was his dream to create a program that would fit into the modern day, and offer the most up-to-date education and qualifications for young people.
He said his shop will be a place where students will be able to take the test to become certified by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence, or ASE.
Among the disciplines offered, Gabe’s students will learn every aspect of automotive repair, from taking work orders through body repair and painting techniques, with an emphasis placed on making cars safe.
He said the shop also has a muscle car project and is building a Jammer to compete at the Lakeport Speedway.
In addition to high school auto shop classes, the shop will host night college classes in automotive repair, Gabe said.
“I have never seen a shop quite like this, I have never seen a program quite like this,” said Gabe, adding that they also have enjoyed great community support.
Konocti Unified Board President Anita Gordon thanked her fellow board members – Bill Diener, Herb Gura, Hank Montgomery and Mary Silva – for their support for educational opportunities like the auto program.
“No matter what the state does to us, no matter how much money they take from us, no matter how much they try to strip our programs, this district believes in what’s best for the kids,” said Gordon. “And I liken us to a little engine that could. No matter what, no matter what happens, we manage to come up with money, grants – whatever it takes – to make a program like this for our kids.”
Lower Lake High School Principal Jeff Dixon said the new auto shop is one of several new additions to the campus over the last several years, including a new library and new gym.
“Not every kid is college bound, we know that,” he said. “But every kid is adult bound.”
Vocational and career technical programs help many young people advance to the next step in their lives and careers, and Dixon said the school plans to expand more of its offerings in those areas, including agricultural education. The school also is expanding its visual and performing arts classes and Advanced Placement classes, he said.
An entry point to a career
The project of bringing the new building to fruition had a lot of support from local businesses, including Clearlake-based A&B Collision, which donated a paint booth, which will be installed this summer; Lake Parts of Lakeport, which donated the paint system for the booth; and Martin Senour, which is donating the paint.
For A&B Collision owners Bill Stone and Alvaro Valencia – who advised the school on how to set up the facility – it’s hoped that the program will provide them with a qualified pool of mechanics and technicians from which to hire.
Stone told Lake County News that finding qualified employees has been one of his business’ biggest challenges, and has necessitated him bringing in staff from all around the state.
But finding well-trained and certified mechanics to fill high paying jobs isn’t just a Lake County problem, said Stone.
“It’s all across the United States,” he said.
On hand to show their support were members of the Lake County A’s, which presented $600 to the program. Clear Lake Car Club President Blue Miller also attended on behalf of his group, which raises money for scholarships for high school students.
Also present for the event was James Fairless, an educational representative for the NASCAR Technical Institute, a branch campus of the Universal Technical Institute.
He said the institute recently took a group of Lower Lake High automotive students over to tour UTI’s Sacramento campus.
Fairless said the new building signified “a lot of potential.”
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