High School Hot Rod
 

I am thinking of starting a nonprofit organization to mentor high school students in the area. The goal would be providing students with life skills, confidence, and direct jobs skills. I am seeking input from villagers and gauging volunteer availability.

In Superior WI I created and ran a nonprofit called Spartan Hot Rod (the high school mascott was a Spartan). We saw a need for young people to learn a craft and work on a team. Each year we provided a small group of kids a motorcycle or car project. They worked with adults in the industry to repair and restore it. We auctioned the vehicle at our own spring car show and that funded the next year's build. It was fun for the adults and I hope it made a difference in the kids' lives.

(Photos on the Facebook page "Spartan Hot Rod")

This program was open to any interested student. Some students went on to work in the trades. Some went to college. All left with more confidence and something to talk about at a job interview. The number one thing employers are looking for is a person's abilityto work on a team. We eventually were able to offer a small grant towards trade school tuition.

I am seeking to guage interest in starting such a program here. I see many small area schools that would benefit and each school could have its own program. We could have a spring show where the projects would be auctioned.

There are many small volunteer opportunities for car crazy villagers like project management, parts/ vehicle acquisition, transportation, advice, etc. Non-car person help could include public speaking, accounting, legal advice, fundraising, etc.

If there is sufficient interest i can host a public meeting to further explain the idea.

Any thoughts?

It sounds like a great idea, although I don’t have the skills to show anyone anything.

I like your basic idea, and having rebuild 9 cars from the ground up I have an idea of what you are talking about. However, today's cars are a completely different animal, I do not like to even look under the hood. I will follow this thread to see what other ideas are presented, but IMHO, a STEM based program using small single board computers, with sensors, robotics, programming, etc., to solve a specific problem maybe more useful.

To be clear, the direct mentoring will be done in a body shop or in the school. We had a body shop owner that instructed the students on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school inside his shop.

I am looking for people interested in the support roles.

What have the schools said?

Check with The Villages Car Club..............lots of gearheads (& want-a-be's) there.

I have not approached them, but I have no doubt they will be on board. I wanted to see if there was volunteer interest first.

Go for it, great, great idea!

Sounds awesome. Peace and love

Great idea!
 

As the Pre"Z"ident of The Villages BMW Z Club, I applaud your idea, especially since you have done this before and have been successful. Our Club currently supports the Lake Technical College Department of Automotive Service Technology by providing a scholarship program. I'm sure some of our members would volunteer for your program and if your program takes off, the Club would consider a donation to contribute to it's success. Ken Bornstein, Pre"Z"ident, The Villages BMW Z Club.

I think it is a great idea especially for schools outside the villages. I build 7 hot rods from the ground up as a hobby when I was younger. As someone mentioned today's cars are different, but the basics are still the same. I would be happy to help on a project like this.

I applaud your idea and past success! Mentoring is definitely a positive factor needed in many young peoples lives.
I can’t tell a spark plug from a hair plug but mentoring on leadership, ethics, public speaking, teamwork, and other business skills is of interest to me. Maybe I could pick up some car knowledge in the process!

Great idea.
 

I’d be interested in hearing more. There’s a similar program at East Syracuse Minoa High School, Spartan garage.org.

Great idea! On later model cars you would need volunteers that would be able to instruct in the use of car computer programmers such as HP tuners.

A great idea. As you well know the difference between a great idea and success is a lot of work. Our nation does not need any more unemployable art history majors, with piles of college loans living in their parent's basement.

I for one am tired of complainers. I would attend a public meeting. Perhaps, not as glorious or looking as well on a resume, this being the Villages-golf carts?