By: Bethany Day
The automotive field contains people who are hands on and not afraid to get the job done. Kelly Hamm, a senior at Wallenpaupack, is a clear example of someone who is not afraid to get his hands dirty while on the job. Kelly has been a part of the Automotive CTE since his freshman year and has enjoyed it ever since. It was the only introduction class that he took, along with building trades. However, as his freshman year moved on, he discovered he enjoyed working with cars more than buildings.
Kelly has many favorite projects from the class. However, his favorite projects are group work events. In those group work assignments, you would work on specific tasks that they were given, “You still work with people, but you got to do some things on your own.” Kelly said when asked his favorite part about the program.
He also mentions how during his years throughout the program, he learned more about how vehicles work and the systems of the cars.
Kelly got the opportunity to go to two competitions. His first competition was Skills USA, which was hosted at Luzerne County Community College, where Kelly was ranked second. In the event the students first took a test, which was then followed by doing an electrical board and figuring out the codes to a car. His second competition will be during March, and it will be at Northampton County Community College, where he and another student get to take part.
Kelly plans to become a master tech in the future, where he still gets to follow his passion and be more hands on with certain model cars. Kelly believes that many students should try the automotive program, due to the number of experiences the students will receive, along with more knowledge about vehicles. “We have a good teacher, who is experienced. We also do a lot of hands-on work. It is a good environment to work in,” he stated. We wish Kelly the best of luck in the future, and hope he keeps pushing through to be a master tech.
