Auto service students meet with industry

Students in the ACC Automotive Service Bridging program met with representatives from industry at a special open house last week.

The evening meet-and-greet was well attended by representatives from the auto service industry, said program coordinator Brian Harness.

The Automotive Service Bridging program ensures that automotive technicians educated abroad are certified to Canadian standards. Although they may already know a lot about servicing vehicles, the bridging program teaches North American and Canadian-specific terminology, measurements, safety and service procedures that may be different than they ones they originally learned.

Of the six students, two are upgrading to meet a Level 1 Apprenticeship standard, and four are challenging for their Red Seal certification.

The course is a difficult one, since many of the students already work full time and many have familes.

OVer 10 months, they attended evening courses until 10 p.m. every Monday, Wedneday and Friday, as well as all-day courses on Saturday.

These guys have put a lot of time and effort into it, said Winston Ingraham, ACC Chair of Mechanical Trades. Working a full-time job, then come here and put four hours an evening -- and their Saturday. That's half their weekend!

The meet-and-greet not only instroduced the students to some of their possible future employers, it also showcased the bridging program to industry representatives.

It's unique in that it's the first mechanical bridging program, Harness said. We're one of the only colleges in the province to do this.

To qualify for the program, students have to meet Apprenticeship Manitoba guidelines, and must have worked in the industry for six of the last 10 years -- a total of 10,800 hours.

From left: Selvin Valecillo, Santiago Murillo, Daniel Guzman, Ryan Brossert (back), Brian Harness, Warren Fee, Walter Santos, Dmytro Lupanchuk, Winston Ingraham.