By Andrea Lopez
The school’s auto shop class provides the fundamentals of mechanics while also supplying students with knowledge that can be used in their everyday lives. The class requires students to use critical thinking skills on technical tasks while providing a hands-on experience for a better learning experience. Auto shop issues knowledge that can be used in various fields including mechanics, engineering, and more. However, this year’s advanced class is made up of all boys with the exception of one girl.
Senior Elizabeth Delgado, describes her experience in the class as a positive one, despite being the only girl in the class. She originally joined auto shop with an interest in becoming a mechanic and owning her own shop. Delgado also heard great things about the class from her friends who had taken it last year and enjoyed it.
According to Delgado, the advanced class is a great experience that helps students prepare for the future, whether those students are male or female.
Before taking the advanced class, students must first take a fundamentals class, which teaches the basics while allowing students to work on the actual cars for the second half of the week. The advanced class is less of the book work and much more of the hands-on work.
Despite the obvious benefits of the class, the boy to girl ratio in both the fundamentals and advanced classes are extremely uneven.
“More girls should join the class because it shouldn’t be known as a guy thing. It shouldn’t be something girls should be judged for. Anything the guys can do, the girls can do too. The atmosphere of the class creates a place where I feels comfortable and the guys don’t treat me any different just because I’m the only girl,” Delgado said.
Delgado, along with her classmates, has created a working space in which everyone gets an equal chance to apply their knowledge into the projects they are doing in class. The boys in the class treat Delgado as an equal.
“I think it’s good for girls to join auto shop because it teaches them skills they wouldn’t learn anywhere else,” advanced auto shop student and senior Kyle Grubbs said.
However, many students have not even heard of the auto shop class or have been misinformed about it. The common misconception is that if students do not know anything about cars, then they cannot succeed, which is not the case at all.
“I didn’t join auto shop because I felt intimidated from not knowing about cars. I felt like I’d be left out because the guys would assume that I couldn’t comprehend what I’m supposed to do,” senior Vianca Ventura said.
However, auto shop is an experience that many students are missing out on, especially the female students. The truth is, this class benefits all who take it. Be sure to sign up in the spring.
We are lucky to have such opportunities at this school.
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