Staff photo by Grace Pecci Department Chair of Transportation Technologies at Lakes Region Community College Jamie Decato, right, hands over the keys of a 2011 Buick, which was donated to the Automotive Technology Program at Nashua High School North, to automotive teacher Jason Smith. The program has seen a major revamp, thanks to local dealers and community members who saw the needs of the program as it was trying to keep up with the changing technology of the auto industry.

NASHUA – The Automotive Technology Program at Nashua High School North was starting to cripple with a lack of newer cars for students to dissect and repair. In fact, when automotive teacher Jason Smith began teaching earlier this year, there were no running shop cars.

They had the technology to run diagnostics and tests on newer cars, but no such cars were available to use, posing challenges for the students upon graduation. With a fast-paced, ever-changing industry such as the automobile business, it was crucial to keep up with the trends.

Thanks to a few local dealers and other key players, the automotive program has seen a significant uplift.

Tuesday, program officials received a donation of a 2011 Buick with a grand total of only 49 miles on it, from the GM Automotive Service Educational Program at Lakes Region Community College, thanks to Jamie Decato, department chair of Transportation Technologies. This car was first donated to Lakes Region Community College, but there was a greater need for it at North.

This could not have been done without the help of Tulley BMW owner Mark Tulley, GM Mazda Service Manager John Peavey, Tulley Automotive Group and a few other key helpers. This donation will ultimately change the way students learn in the program.

“This is a modern and up to date vehicle that our students are able to work on. They are able to learn diagnosis and service them. When a senior graduates this year and gets a job at a dealership, these are the kinds of cars he or she is going to be working on,” Smith said. “It’s not the type of car that has been sitting in a school program for 15 years that’s out of date. For us to have these kinds of cars is absolutely fantastic. It’s wonderful.”

Smith said it is more difficult for a student to try to understand the systems of an older car with more than 100,000 miles in terms of giving an diagnosis and determining how to repair correctly.

“When we have an old part that’s been take apart so many times with certain parts missing, it doesn’t really give the students the real world experience of what it’s about, whereas, something like this, it’s as real as it gets,” Smith said.

Since August, the program has seen a major change. Different members of the community decided to help any way they could.

Smith said he had an advisory board meeting with representatives from Tulley Motors, Audi and a few other local dealerships. When they asked him what he needed, he told them he needed wheels with computer sensors. So they brought in 11 parts, along with extra computer sensors.

Two other cars have also been donated to the program, an Acura from Nashua Community College automotive instructor Karl Wunderlich, and a Chrysler Sebring from a community member. Thanks to these donations and the help of local dealers who have come together with the goal of giving the program a revamp, students are able to have a stronger learning foundation.

“For a young man or woman to walk into a dealership, even at entry level, by not having any background, it’s such a handicap. Our guys have some background; they have knowledge; they have skill,” Smith said.

The automotive program also has a good working relationship with Lake Region Community College.

“This partnership really is one that we are looking to strengthen, so with the resurgence of bringing the program back, freshening things up, bringing a new professor, this is a good way of opening the door, it’s a good way to facilitate that relationship,” Decato said.

Students who go on to participate in the automotive programs at Lakes Region Community College are able to take a traditional route to seek their license.

The programs offered are cooperative education programs, in which students spend 12 weeks at the college and then they go out to on internships.

“The model has shifted from traditional education where you go to school for two years and then you go out and look for work,” Decato said.

Students get setup with a work experience as part of the process so when they graduate, they get two years of experience, an associate’s degree, a job and very little . debt.

Director of Nashua Technology North Amanda Bastoni said those in the program have been employed at BMW and Honda dealerships.

“We are really trying to build that partnership with auto industries,” Bastoni said.

“It’s no longer, ‘Oh if you were working on this, then this could happen.’ No, it’s, ‘This is really what happens.’ It’s terrific,” Smith added.

Grace Pecci can be reached at 594-1243, or at gpecci@nashuatelegraph.com.