MVCTC students selected to participate in national build program
Students at Mon Valley Career and Technical Center customized this Jeep Wrangler TJ, which was donated through The Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) High School Vehicle Build Program. The students’ work captured first place at the Autorama World of Wheels car show in Pittsburgh in January.
The Jeep Wrangler TJ on display at the World of Wheels car show in Pittsburgh.
Students at Mon Valley Career and Technical Center are pictured with the 2001 Jeep Wrangler TJ that they customized as part of the Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) High School Vehicle Build Program. Sitting in the driver’s seat is automotive technology instructor Chris Mance.
Two busloads of students from the Mon Valley Career and Technical Center went to the recent Autorama World of Wheels car show at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh and took home several prizes for their work.
Students at Mon Valley Career and Technical Center are involved in a vehicle build program that was made available to select schools throughout the country.
The Specialty Equipment Marketing Association (SEMA) High School Vehicle Build Program connects high school automotive shop classes with specialty-equipment manufacturers’ products to build one-of-a-kind customized vehicles.
“(We always look) for ways to inspire kids in all of our programs,” said Neil Henehan, director of Mon Valley Career and Technical Center. “We try to use their passion for their chosen career pathway to reinvigorate them after this situation with COVID – getting kids back into buildings and trying to find ways to reignite them.”
That passion, plus the students’ skills, manifested themselves at the recent Autorama World of Wheels car show at the David Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. “Wolfpack Customs,” as the students are tabbed in reference to the school’s mascot, collected a first-place plaque for their work on a 2001 Jeep Wrangler TJ donated by SEMA, as well as a number of other awards.
Mon Valley Career and Technical Center hosts students from the California, Charleroi, Bentworth, Beth-Center, Ringgold, Monessen and Belle Vernon school districts. It was one of 10 schools throughout the country selected for the SEMA program.
The program funded by SEMA offers students real-world, hands-on auto-tech skills while becoming engaged in the accessorizing and customization lifestyle.
“Our goals here with that program are to introduce students to a very wide variety of things within the industry,” explained Chris Mance, automotive technology instructor.
Mance said the selection process involved three rounds of interviews and an essay had to be written.
“There were well over a couple thousand schools that applied,” Mance said. “To be associated with SEMA is like the pinnacle of the automotive world. It’s a cool thing to be one of 10 schools in the country to be associated with that.”
As the customization work on vehicles continued, students in the welding and multimedia program joined in on the project with the automotive students.
“This is a way we get kids meeting kids, working together, simulating the workplace,” Henehan said. “This is just one of the ways we’re using our programs to inspire our kids.”
The Jeep Wrangler was one of two vehicles the school could choose to do a build through SEMA. The other was a third-generation Toyota 4runner.
MVCTC applied for the Jeep Wrangler, which SEMA shipped to the school at no charge. SEMA then works with local vendors to have parts donated to the school.
“We did a 100% full nut and bolt restoration,” Mance said. “In the automotive industry, that would be six months to a year build. We were attempting to do that in 45 days.”
Students were given different assignments and a project manager was selected for the morning and afternoon class.
“You’re doing a massive amount of work in a very short time frame,” Mance said. “The students learned a ton through that process. It was no longer school, it was reality.”
A student who Mance said poured his heart and soul into the project was senior John Bruno of the Bentworth School District.
“It was something new to me,” said Bruno, who hopes to someday work in the automotive industry as a mechanic. “(It’s helpful) getting hands-on information, doing it myself, having someone tell me what to do and getting a feel for it on different vehicles.”
Senior Eddie Veatch of the Beth-Center School District started working on the project when he was a sophomore.
“It got delayed because of COVID,” Veatch said. “We finally got to finish the build. It turned out well. Everybody had to chip in and do their own parts so we all kind of came together as one team.”
Two busloads of MVCTC students were taken to the World of Wheels show.
“We wanted to see what we could do this year, because part of what we could bring was this build from the SEMA program, which we’ve had in our building since just prior to the pandemic,” Henehan said.
The students enjoyed their time at World of Wheels.
“Our display turned out awesome,” Veatch added. “There were velvet ropes all the way across. It was good to hear all the compliments from people walking past.”
“Every day we looked forward to moving the projects along to meet our deadlines,” added Mackenza Spangler, a sophomore from Beth-Center. “We enjoyed making progress and couldn’t wait to see our work on display. I enjoyed talking to people at the show about the work we did.”
Other awards captured by “Customs Wolfpack” for their work were: 2014 PolarisRZR170 – first place; 1971 Sears Minibike – first place; 2017 Honda Rukus -third place; 1966 Cub Cadet 102 – third place; 1975 John Deere 100 – second place; 2009 Honda Metropolitan – second Place; and 1991 Volkswagen Cabriolet – Honorable Mention.
“These students from the Mon Valley get the chance to participate in something that is nationwide,” Henehan said. “They can remember this for the rest of their lives. I’m really very, very proud of our program and our students.”