ROCK SPRINGS – The Automotive Technology program at Western Wyoming Community College received a substantial donation recently from First Choice Ford, which contributed more than $100,000 worth of automotive parts to be divided amongst the automotive education programs at Western and Rock Springs High School.
“We really appreciate First Choice Ford’s support of our program and of automotive education in Rock Springs,” said WWCC Instructor of Automotive Technology Ken Patton. “This contribution is going to make a real difference in our shop and in the practical, hands-on work that students do.”
Todd Griffin, general manager at First Choice Ford, said the donation reflects the dealership’s ongoing commitment to supporting the local community and local education.
“Western has a great automotive program up there, and we wanted to support that, and support the schools,” he said. “At the same time, we can hopefully help them to build some quality technicians that can help us and some other local businesses down the road.”
First Choice Ford has donated approximately $250,000 worth of parts to Western’s Automotive Technology program over the past three years.
The donation included a wide variety of parts that Patton said would be shared with the auto program at Rock Springs High School, as was intended by First Choice Ford. Western teaches concurrent automotive courses with RSHS and the donated items will help give students a more comprehensive view of the vehicles they are learning to repair.
“There is lots of stuff here that is good for demonstration in the classroom as well as for use in the shop,” Patton said. “At first, you think of a piece of trim for the dashboard, for example, ‘How can you use that in class?’ But some of those pieces with clips are very hard to get off without breaking them. So just being able to see what the back side of it looks like is real beneficial to guys. When you walk up to a car, and you want to pull the dash off the car or a piece of trim off the dash, a lot of times you only see the outside portion of it. You’re not sure how those clips attach. A lot of times they get broken because guys are prying on them in places they shouldn’t pry because they don’t know what’s holding them in. Sometimes even the service information we have on that is vague, and the pictures aren’t very good, or you don’t have views from both sides. Things like that help a lot for guys who are not already in the industry.”
Automotive Technology, in the Technology & Industry Division, is one of Western’s most popular Associate of Applied Science degree programs. Students can earn a two-year degree that prepares them for the workforce, and many also opt to receive a one-year certificate in Alternative Fuel Technology, which prepares them to service the latest generation of Hybrid/Electric, Compressed Natural Gas, and Clean Diesel Technologies.
For more information about Automotive Technology at Western, call Mustang Central at (307) 382-1677, or visit them online.
