Two representatives from Universal Technical Institute of Chicago were at the SCILL Center yesterday explaining some of the courses offered at their school for students who would like a career in the automotive field. They brought a 1920s car with a Chevy motor for the students to see. The students were also competing against each other on how fast they could change spark plugs.
SCILL Center Director, Jerry Gurrado, said that these students are lucky in that colleges are able to come to the SCILL Center and present a post-secondary curriculum to the students.
“We take a lot of pride in our kids getting ready to take that next step, whether it be to go directly into business and industry, or whether it’s going to higher education,” said Gurrado. “We like the opportunity for some of these places that are very highly technically skilled to come in and give their presentations to our kids to see what programs are available.”
There is a certain appeal for students who complete a vocational course with a certification to go with it.
“What we’re finding is that kids that going on in tech schools and pick up a vocational trade, there’s a market there for them. The market has been developed for them. I look at some of the positions that some of our kids can into when they walk out of here, dollar-wise, as far as fitting on a scale of income, versus what I started out as a first year teacher, coaching three sports and sponsoring three different organizations, and it’s light years ahead. I think this is a tremendous opportunity, not just with our SCILL Center, but other programs that we’re hoping to develop.”
Two more colleges will be visiting with the students this week and more will be stopping by in the coming weeks.
