Duncanville High School Automotive Technology students are accustomed to rolling up their sleeves and getting their hands dirty while working on cars in their garage classroom. Recently, they’ve been focusing on a special project - making repairs to a vehicle that’s a raffle prize to raise money for the Duncanville ISD Education Foundation.
The education foundation is selling raffle tickets to win a 2007 Chrysler Crossfire in a Facebook live event on December 18 at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $100 each and only 500 tickets are being sold. Learn more on the education foundation website.
The automotive students heading up this repair project are enrolled in the high school’s Career Technical Education program where they acquire skills that allow them to find work as soon as they graduate.
“This is a real life application,” said Automotive Technology teacher Jeff Thorpe. “It doesn’t get any more real than this. They’re really doing wire repairs, they’re really doing brake jobs, getting dirty and it helps them determine – do I really want to do that?”
Duncanville High School Senior Brian Escamilla decided early in his high school career that he wanted to pursue automotive technology for his future.
“Everything I’m learning here from all four years has been the basics, so I can go to a dealership and work my way up in my career” Brian said.
The Chrysler Crossfire belonged to Dr. Mike Miner, board president of Duncanville ISD Education Foundation. He donated the convertible to the foundation, which has a long history of supporting Duncanville ISD. Last month, the education foundation donated $100,000 to the district to purchase additional technology devices for students.
The foundation’s executive director, Dena McFerren, says allowing students from the high school’s Career Technical Education program to use the donated car to further their studies is the perfect partnership.
“Our primary purpose is to support the students and teachers of Duncanville ISD, and it is our pleasure to showcase the great work being done in the high school’s Career Technical Education classes,” said Dena McFerren, Executive Director of Duncanville ISD Education Foundation. “We plan to use the funds raised from the raffle and our other fundraising projects to do even more to help the district.”