ELKINS – Performance Chevrolet Business Manager/Owner Christina Hines invited cadets from The Kenneth “Honey” Rubenstein Center in Davis to experience a day in the life of a Certified Master Technician. Hines, along with Operating Officer, Owner Gene Darlington, not only told the cadets about how the dealership operates, but allowed them to follow a vehicle through the service process from drop off to pick up.
“We do almost 1,000 repairs orders a month, so we are busy,” Hines said. “Hopefully today you will have the opportunity to work with our Certified Master Technicians a little bit.”
Cadets at the Rubenstein Center participate in the Simulated Workplace Program and have their own repair shop where the cadets take the lead, and the class is run like a business. It is called the Mountain Top Auto Repair. Automotive Technology Instructor Leroy Myers said the trip to Performance just enhances the cadets’ experience and gives them a look into what they can use their training for when they are out in the workforce.
“We are happy to be able to travel to Performance Chevrolet and experience working in a business,” Myers said. “Christina Hines worked for more than a month preparing to give the cadets a good experience and help them learn what skills they need to get a job in a service department. We had a choice to go somewhere else, but I said no way because I know what a good job she does.”
Myers said the cadets ask him all the time to explain how things work in business. “So I decided to take them somewhere to see how it works,” Myers said. “I have six cadets on the trip today,” he said. “When the cadets get back they will reflect on their trip and they will write a thank you card and will be quizzed on what they learned.”
The Simulated Workplace teaches students about the skills needed to be successful in the workplace – communication, teamwork, being on time. “Simulated Workplace is a concept where the students run a business and I am just there to make sure things go right. We have a service manager, a safety man and an IT man. I let them run the business – it is shifting responsibility to the students,” Myers said. “Students buy into the program because they are a part of the program.”
Rubenstein Center Principal Junior Helmick said the trip to Performance Chevrolet takes the cadets to the next level.
“The kids see the work in action,” Helmick said. “We told them we are expecting them to take notes and implement some of the strategies and practices they see when they get back to their simulated workplace.”
Myers said when the cadets leave the field trip, it isn’t over.
“They are going to write this stuff down and talk about it,” he said. “They will go over the pros and cons. As far as I’m concerned, this is the best field trip I have ever been on. The cadets are thoroughly engrossed in what is going on here.”
“When we rolled out the simulated workplace at the Rubenstein Center, we talked about things, but it was hard to get the cadets to see the concept behind it,” Helmick said. “We said we needed to go visit a real live operating dealership and spend some time there. Christy has been amazing. She planned out a whole day for the students. She met with them and briefed them in the morning and in the afternoon they will follow a work order through and work with the techs. When we go back to school, the goal for these students is to work with the students to implement the strategies we learned here today in our trip to Performance.”
Helmick said the goal at the Rubenstein Center is to do everything they can to replicate the real world.
“Our goal for these students is to graduate and put them in the work place or in college or another learning institute,” Helmick said. “We encourage students to go to college, but we have a lot of them who just want to graduate and get into the work force. Our goal is these students will help train some of the other students.”
Helmick said the simulated workplace model is real-world and authentic and teaches students leadership and all kinds of employability skills. “The soft skills simulated workplace teaches are skills companies are screaming for,” Helmick said. “Sometimes the students don’t even realize they are learning the skills. It gives the students a foundation to build upon.”
