The two-year Auto Service Technology program offers juniors and seniors an education in automotive repair ranging from engine performance to air conditioning. 

Senior level instructor Steve Reese said the program has space for 64 students each semester and has 60 students on a waiting list.

"It is pretty competitive, and we kind of like to present to the students that it is a privilege to come here," Reese said. "For a long time vocational schools got the rap of being a dumping ground, but we raised our standards in regards to the prerequisites for being here and I think we are getting a quality bunch of students, especially compared to what we were seeing 10 years ago."

He added that the program was recently voted best secondary automotive program in the state by the Industry Planning Council and in 2002 tied for second for the best program in the nation.

Students enrolled in the program either attend a morning or afternoon class and come from one of 15 high schools in St. Charles County.

The quality of students enrolled in the program is not the only thing improving, though. Reese said that six years ago, a $56 million bond issue passed in St. Charles County that allowed extensive renovations to the program and facility. 

  
The improvements were implemented last year and included new classrooms with a computer for each student, a lift in each classroom, and new equipment.

Reese said having a lift in each classroom has been a key asset to the using class time efficiently.

"Each grade level shares the shop area, so we trade off every other day," he said. "Since we have lifts in the classroom now, I can do a demonstration in there rather than in the shop amongst the junior class, where I would cause a distraction."  

  
Junior-level instructor Glenn Seithel said the bottom line is that the students are hands-on, they want to be shown rather than told, and having a lift in the classroom assists in making that possible.

"I talk to the students for a while and then take a tool out and apply that tool on the car to show how it works," Seithel said.

"Then you see the light bulb go on and they get it. Having a rack in the room allows me to teach like that."

The curriculum of the program starts the junior year with safety and then goes into engines, maintenance, electrical, drivability, driveline, and manual transmission, he said.

  
Seithel said he does a lot of work on oil changes and flushes during the maintenance section so the students are able to land a job at a place like Jiffy Lube between their junior and senior years.

Excess funds allowed Reese to purchase new flush machines for brake, transmission, coolant, power steering, and induction services, Seithel said, adding that the machines came from BG Services, and sales rep Matt Porter will spend class periods demonstrating how the equipment works.

"When students have the knowledge of how to work these machines, it will really give them a step up when they are applying for jobs," he said.

Seniors learn brakes, steering and suspension, cylinder heads, computer control, fuel injection, drivability, automatic transmission, and air conditioning, Reese said.

Seniors also learn how to operate the GM Tech II and OTC Genisys scan tools, he said.

"These kids coming out of here have a little knowledge, but it takes years of working on cars to get into a groove," Seithel said. "Every year you have to continue training to keep up with everything changing in the industry. If you don't want to continue education every year, then the automotive industry is not the place to get a job."

A five-year review of graduates from the Auto Service Technology program found that 63 percent had been placed in a related job, Reese said, adding that about 30 percent of students are choosing to attend postsecondary programs at technical schools such as Ranken Technical College, National Auto Diesel, Linn State Technical School, and Lincoln Technical School.

The program is also involved in competitions such as SkillsUSA, Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills, and Missouri Auto Dealers, Reese said.

For the third time in the last four years, Reese said he will be sending students to compete in the National Automotive Technology Competition on March 24-27 at the New York International Auto Show. In a local competition, seniors Bryan Roehrs and Brendon Turley beat out 260 students in a written exam and took first place in the hands-on section to advance to the national event, he said.