Bellevue Public Schools will introduce a program next year that builds students’ automotive maintenance skills.

The year-long program focuses on preparing students for careers in the automotive field. The program’s goal is to teach students how to diagnose and repair common entry level automotive items and develop career paths. The course began developing a few years ago.

“It all goes back to about 2016-2017 when we went through a process called the revision process,” Coordinator of College and Career Education and Program Services Brad Stueve said. “We found through that process that our Health Science fields, our automotive and transportation fields, and some of our computer science fields, we could probably beef up a little bit. That was the start of it.”

The program will be available to all upcoming juniors and seniors from Bellevue East and West who have an interest in working with vehicles, and will be a two hour block of time in the morning or afternoon. Students must have a valid driver’s license by August 2020.

“They don’t really need to know anything before,” Stueve said. “It’s open for anybody that has an interest in wanting to learn about basic automotive maintenance.”

Students can earn both high school and college credits. Students can earn 24 college credit hours through Metropolitan Community College towards an associate’s degree, as well as an automotive technology assistant certificate. If someone is interested in signing up, they can speak with skilled and technical services teachers Joseph Nadgwick, Scott Blackwell, Mathew Henry, and any of the counselors or Lynne Henkel.   

“If you’re good with your hands, if you like to work on things, if it’s something you just want to know about for future life and owning a vehicle as you get older, I think it would be a great class for anybody to take,” Stueve said.