School automotive program gets a lift

Auto dealer donates alignment rack

By Karin Burke | The Daily Journal

Published Tuesday, February 6, 2007

The Fegus Falls High School auto-tech program, already a vehicle to vocational skills and potential scholarships for area students, received a major lift from Minnesota Motor Company recently.

The auto dealership donated its old alignment rack to the high school program, after the purchase of a new, state-of-the-art system for use in their service department. The donated alignment rack, which will not only lift vehicles but may function as an all-purpose hoist, allowing students added capacity in their hands-on studies.

Rick Gronner, teacher at the auto-tech program, said he had his eye on the rack for some time.

“I’m very happy with the donation, and we are ready to put it to use,” he said. Gronner has 60 students in his auto-tech program. Many of those students intend to go on with careers or study in the automotive industry, he said.

The auto-tech program at Fergus Falls is one of the first in the state to participate in the “AYES,” or Automotive Youth Education System, which creates links between high school programs, technical schools and automobile dealerships. Students who participate are often involved in working at dealerships after school or during the summer months. Students are also eligible to receive scholarships from automotive educational programs. Stuart Schiesser and Aaron Johnson earned scholarships this year, Gronner formerly worked at Minnesota Motor Company, and maintains a good reciprocal relationship with them.

“But we have a working partnership with every dealership in town, and those relationships have always been very good,” he said.

Minnesota Motor Company worked with two high school seniors for summer internships last year. The internship gave students additional hands-on training as well as experience in the field.

Donating the lift was a natural step for the GMC dealership, according to Steve Lausch.

“We could have sold it retail, and possibly recouped $6,000 or $10,000,” he said, “but we felt that the donation was a better investment,”

The lift is still a valuable piece of equipment, though it no longer met the needs of the company, Lausch said.

“We used it until the day we took it out,” he said. “It’s just that newer trucks are heavier than the lifting capacity of that machine, and we needed to upgrade.”