Classroom vehicle earned by students using Ford certification program
High schoolers often work toward getting their first car to drive.
Students in auto tech classes at Gilmer High School (GHS) have been working toward getting a car for different purpose — to use as an in-class learning tool.
That goal was recently achieved when the school received a 2014 Ford Focus from Ford Motor Company. The car was delivered to GHS last month, and it’s already being used in the automotive education classes taught by instructor Ken Martin.
“It’s part of what they call the buyback program. It could be anything from a corporate car to a car somebody wasn’t satisfied with,” said Martin.
The car donation comes after Martin’s students completed the most in-school Ford ACE (Automotive Career Exploration) certifications in the southeastern region the past two years. That region includes schools in Georgia, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama.
Auto tech students can use an online portal and learning modules to become certified in an array of skills including electrical systems, steering and suspension and new models.
Anthony Davis, technical placement specialist for Ford’s Atlanta region, said the in-school certifications are based on the same training program used by dealer-certified technicians. Certifications earned in the classroom are transferable if a student is hired by a Ford/Lincoln dealership, he confirmed.
“(They) are transferable to any Ford or Lincoln dealership in the country,” Davis said.
GHS didn’t receive the car just because of its high in-class certification numbers, but having that many students using the certification program doesn’t hurt, either, Davis noted.
“Ford will donate (vehicles) to automotive programs that are utilizing our ACE program and (have) a dealership that hires students out of there, which is Ronnie Thompson Ford (for Gilmer County),” said Davis. “We can request that a vehicle go to the school so they have the technology to work on it, and the school takes ownership of the vehicle.”
The ACE program certainly has been utilized at GHS since it was introduced there five years ago. For the 2019-20 school year, the class received two training engines in conjunction with the program. Martin’s students completed almost 1,600 ACE courses in the 2020-21 school year, Davis noted.
“If you went to work at a Ford place, they would have you do some of these courses while you’re employed by them. We’re setting them up to have some of these done before they even go to work,” Martin said.
Davis said GHS students have already bested their ACE certification numbers from the previous school year with 1,844 course completions for 2021-22.
“Since they signed up for the program in 2017, there have been 301 students in Mr. Martin’s program who’ve completed the courses,” he added.
Students sometimes perform basic repairs on vehicles in the classes, but those cars and trucks usually belong to school employees or family members of students, Martin noted. When the repairs are finished, the vehicle is returned to its owner.
The difference with the donated Focus is it will stay at the school so future students can also use it to learn.
“This one will never be back on the road. It will complete its life here as a training tool,” said Martin, who currently teaches basic, intermediate and advanced level automotive classes.
Entry level students are now doing vehicle checks and basic maintenance on the vehicle, while the advanced class has been learning to do diagnostic checks on it using a scan tool, Martin said.
“It’s a newer vehicle, so they can get experience doing vehicle checks all the way up to electrical diagnostics. We can also initiate problems in the vehicle, and they will have to diagnose and repair them,” he added.
Some of this year’s auto tech students are currently working at Ronnie Thompson Ford and other places in the auto repair field, Martin noted.
“I’ve also got a couple working at the (school) bus garage. We’re trying to send them wherever they can go because there’s a lot more openings than employees right now,” he added.