Auto Program Revs Alternative Career Path

With the help of a new Hillhouse-Gateway Community College automotive program, Hillhouse senior Rafael Cruz can spend his school day working toward his dream of owning a mechanic shop in Puerto Rico.

Cruz is one of eight students enrolled in Hillhouse High School’s new automotive training program, run in partnership with The Justice Education Center Inc., and Gateway Community College (GWCC).

The program is a two-part high school training and college-credited course program that will provide high schoolers a pathway into the automotive job sector. 

The partners gathered at Hillhouse Wednesday for a celebration of the start of the program.

Hillhouse began offering the five-day-a-week course to the cohort of seniors In October. The program will provide students with two terms in its automotive courses; then students will begin classes at Gateway with Dan Fuller. Fuller designed the program curriculum. (Read more about Gateway’s automotive program here, here, here, and here.)

Before joining the program Cruz would spend his school days in forensic science, statistics, and English class, none of which dovetailed with his career aspirations.

Cruz, 17, expressed interest in the program during a senior assembly meeting and was selected for it after a series of student interviews for the small pilot cohort.

After graduating high school, Cruz hopes to bring his skills back home to Puerto Rico to open his own mechanic shop. Growing up, he worked with his cousin on cars. ​“This is a big step. When I heard about it I thought ​‘that’s it I got to do it,’” he said.

The new high school automotive program is a branch of the Career Pathways Technology Collaborative, which provides credited pre-apprenticeship training to at-risk students.

Justice Education Center Executive Director Sheery Haller led the Wednesday ceremony and gave thanks to the program partners who helped it together.

Conversations around developing the program at Hillhouse began six years ago with Principal Glen Worthy, Haller, and GWCC Automotive Department Chair Dan Fuller. Then-Mayor Toni Harp helped the partners to get money to rehab the Hillhouse area into a shop.

“This is the kind of thing that happens when community comes together,” GWCC CEO William Brown said.

Schools Superintendent Iline Tracey, Mayor Justin Elicker, and former Mayor Harp were thanked by the partners for supporting the collaboration.

Elicker said he looks forward to the city leading in ridding public schools of a college-only narrative for students. ​“There’s too much baggage around not going to college,” he said.

He thanked Worthy for helping to lead the district in that direction.

Since becoming principal at Hillhouse in 2016 Worthy has also partnered to bring a Health Careers Academy Pathways, Construction program, and college-credited manufacturing program to Hillhouse students to re-engage them in learning toward a pathway to a career soon after high school.

“The opportunities give them a purpose to be in school,” Worthy said.

Worthy is on a mission to offer more to New Haven youth than a single path to post-high-school success. With the school’s established career pathways partnerships and dedication to re-engaging its youth, Worthy hopes to instill a love for learning and motivation to join and move up in the local technical work forces.

The shop’s architect, Del Simmons, created the design plans for the former Hillhouse storage room-turned-automotive shop free of charge. State Rep. Toni Walker helped the program secure the funds necessary for creating the space, which includes a shop attached to a tool room and automotive classroom equipped with computers.

Fuller introduced the team to Viking Equipment President Joe Shomberg, who helped to connect the program with business donors and future job opportunities for the students. In addition to the car, the Hillhouse program received all of the shop’s equipment from donors like Premier Automotive, Town Fair Tire, Mohawk Rubber Sales, Group 31 Inc., and Wegmann Automotive.

The shop is equipped with tire prepare kits, a tire balancer, a tire dismount, tool boxes, and lifts.

“This is good for the kids and good for business,” Shomberg said.

So far the class has been learning safety and about the shop tools. Hillhouse automotive instructor John Samson teaches the class every day in two-hour blocks.

Fuller offered the participating students a glimpse of where the automotive program can bring them in the future: He started as a dealership technician, then graduated from Gateway’s automotive program 32 years ago.

Samson is a product of Naugatuck Valley Community College, where he graduated from the automotive program in 1997. He is now leading Hillhouse’s automotive classes. He previously taught at Bullard-Havens Technical High School in Bridgeport.

Growing up, Aliyah Osman, 18, worked with her grandfather and uncle on cars, learning the tools by handing them over to her mentors. After the passing of her uncle, she became motivated to do automotive work. ​“I saw it made him happy,” she said.

Osman, a Hillhouse senior, plans to attend Gateway and join its automotive program next year. She looks forward to learning more about cars to save money on costly repairs once she gets her driver’s license and starts driving.

The students agreed that in a schedule of four classes, automotive is a favorite because it is hands-on.

Hillhouse plans to open up the shop to other schools like Riverside after the school day for program courses. It will also expand its program to juniors, Worthy said.

GWCC presented its partners at Hillhouse with a car donation at the Wednesday ceremony. Brown drove the 2012 Chevrolet Cruze into the shop while Worthy rode shotgun to surprise five of the program’s students present at the ceremony.

The donation came just in time for Samson, who plans to teach the class next about replacing tires. With several donated tires from Town Fair Tire, the students will be able to work on that lesson on and off the car.

“There are many pathways to success that don’t require a four year degree,” Haller said.

Watch ceremony video here.