Every February, the CTE community celebrates CTE Month® to raise awareness of the role that CTE has in readying learners for college and career success. CTE Month is also a time to recognize and celebrate the achievements and accomplishments of our CTE partners at the local, state and national level.
This month, we turn the reins over to Mrs. Breanne Lynch, CTE Coordinator for the District, who will interview our CTSO advisors and student leaders. Today's episode features HHS's Tiger Stripes Garage Automotive program. Joining us are:
Every February, the CTE community celebrates CTE Month® to raise awareness of the role that CTE has in readying learners for college and career success. CTE Month is also a time to recognize and celebrate the achievements and accomplishments of our CTE partners at the local, state and national level.
This month, we turn the reins over to Mrs. Breanne Lynch, CTE Coordinator for the District, who will interview our CTSO advisors and student leaders. Today's episode features HHS's Tiger Stripes Garage Automotive program. Joining us are:
Transcript
00:00:03 JoAnne
We're giving you more than just the 411. This is the Harrisburg 412 podcast coming to you from Southern Sioux Falls and Harrisburg, SD.
00:00:19 JoAnne
Thanks for joining us as our celebration of CTE month continues throughout the month of February today, we're happy to have representatives from the Tiger Stripes garage joining us on the podcast.
00:00:32 JoAnne
CTE coordinator Brianne Lynch takes our interview from here, all right.
00:00:37 Breanne
Harrisburg 412 listeners. We're back. We're going to highlight our automotive technology program and who do I have with me today.
00:00:44 Jill
I'm Jill Drueger.
00:00:44 Jill
I'm a senior.
00:00:46 Riley
And I'm Riley Brewer.
00:00:47 Riley
I'm a junior.
00:00:49 Taylor
I'm Taylor Burkett the automotive teacher here at Harrisburg High School and head of Tiger Stripes group.
00:00:54 Breanne
The tiger stripes garage alright, let's jump right in it.
00:00:56 Breanne
What is the tiger stripes garage and why should I know about it?
00:01:00 Taylor
It is our automotive program basically and we will do all the classes through that grudge and then we will also.
00:01:10 Taylor
Work on teachers cars with the advanced program so it's a little tweak to not only covering the material we need to, but also getting real world experience at the same time.
00:01:21 Breanne
So what's the craziest thing you've seen as a problem?
00:01:25 Breanne
Come into the tiger stripes garage.
00:01:28 Taylor
Well, it's just stuff balloons.
00:01:31 Taylor
So we work on one thing to fix something and then we find all these other problems with it.
00:01:37 Taylor
And then it keeps just getting added on to. So Mr. Seamer the vice principal's pickup within here.
00:01:44 Taylor
For a semester and 1/2 because he just kept adding stuff for us to do on it.
00:01:49 Breanne
That's an extensive project, a semester and 1/2 OK, so beyond tiger stripes garage we obviously have classroom content and I assume that's where we started.
00:01:59 Breanne
Taking classes.
00:02:00 Breanne
Learning classroom content.
00:02:02 Breanne
So is it fun to be in a class with Mr. Burkett and can you give me a little bit of insight of what the day to?
00:02:07 Breanne
Day and Mr. Burkett's class and shop feels like.
00:02:10 Riley
It's pretty fun to be in his class, mainly because he's always trying to joke with his students, and if you get the right students, they'll joke back and I'll just make the whole class just fun to be in.
00:02:20 Jill
Yeah, our advanced class was really fun.
00:02:23 Jill
We had.
00:02:24 Jill
It was mostly us and then a kid named Colton and it was the three of us on projects all the time and we would joke around and then Burkett would come joke with us and then make sure we were actually doing what we were supposed to and we.
00:02:35 Breanne
Most of the time they're doing what?
00:02:36 Breanne
They're supposed to do right, OK?
00:02:36 Jill
Usually usually.
00:02:39 Breanne
So what do you think has been the biggest challenge or project you have taken on in the tiger stripes?
00:02:44 Riley
Gradual, there hasn't been too many things where we were like, ultimately stumped on.
00:02:49 Riley
I feel like we could figure.
00:02:49 Riley
Most things out.
00:02:51 Jill
Yeah, if we stuck with it long enough, yeah, OK?
00:02:54 Breanne
You have to help out our listeners.
00:02:56 Breanne
They don't have as much car knowledge and automotive technology knowledge.
00:02:59 Breanne
As you so.
00:03:01 Breanne
Explain a problem or a challenging situation and maybe some of the skills.
00:03:06 Breanne
You use to overcome.
00:03:09 Breanne
So I might bring my car into you.
00:03:11 Breanne
And I say it's making.
00:03:13 Breanne
A weird sound.
00:03:15 Breanne
OK, how do you diagnose that?
00:03:18 Breanne
That's the part of the port of this class, right, Mr. Burkett
00:03:19 Taylor
Exactly, yeah.
00:03:19 Breanne
Burkett, OK, so how do we go about that -
00:03:22 Riley
Well, we could listen to it and depending on what it sounds like, sometimes we could use a code reader and then it would run off different codes and give off different like problems.
00:03:33 Riley
That could be the issue.
00:03:34 Breanne
OK, so that code reader pulls codes that are the same.
00:03:37 Breanne
As industry, yeah exactly.
00:03:40 Taylor
Exactly the same, so sometimes the students will take the car on a test drive as well because.
00:03:45 Taylor
We have to emulate that sound that the customer is describing and that they will then then decipher off of that what they need to do from there.
00:03:55 Taylor
So Yep, exactly and just.
00:03:55 Breanne
You got to emulate that.
00:03:58 Taylor
Of as a side and funny joke, I will try to make everyone make pieces of what it sounds like.
00:04:05 Breanne
So it's important, right?
00:04:06 Breanne
Because somebody someday, if you're a technician, is going to walk in and say my car is making this weird sound and they're.
00:04:07 Taylor
Exactly
00:04:11 Breanne
Going to try to.
00:04:12 Breanne
Make it.
00:04:12 Breanne
And you're like, oh that's the alternator, like all.
00:04:16 Breanne
Of the car technicians.
00:04:17 Breanne
Just know these things intuitively, but that has to come from practice, right?
00:04:20 Taylor
Yep, yeah.
00:04:22 Taylor
So we'll go off of that.
00:04:23 Taylor
And then the students will usually find out what's wrong with it.
00:04:26 Taylor
And then they will have to decipher how we're going to fix it as well.
00:04:29 Taylor
Or if we will take it on, there is some things that we don't take on just because it's too big of a project.
00:04:35 Taylor
We only have an hour and a half a day.
00:04:37 Taylor
So we have to be somewhat selective with what we do, but.
00:04:40 Breanne
So we get to help.
00:04:42 Breanne
Showcase automotive technology industry through the Tiger Stripes Garage program.
00:04:46 Breanne
And Mr. Burkett's instruction. And we do that through the HS car showcase. Can you explain a little bit of what happens at the car showcase and maybe your role in that previously?
00:04:55 Jill
At the showcase we have everything from vehicles from within the Community as well as student vehicles like I have friends that bring cars in and we'll have cars from.
00:05:04 Jill
People who just live in Harrisburg come in and they all just come in the parking lot.
00:05:08 Jill
We have, like music and a band and it helps get our program out there so that people can see that we exist and it's just fun for us to be able to look at cars that aren't falling apart sometimes.
00:05:21 Riley
She pretty much covered most of it, but.
00:05:24 Riley
Sometimes it's just more fun to see or get like more emphasis on, even if you're like trying to learn about like cars.
00:05:32 Riley
Sometimes going to a car show is a lot better to go to because sometimes the owners will explain about their car.
00:05:38 Riley
And if you ask questions, they'll answer and it's just nice to see cars that you don't see on the road like every.
00:05:45 Breanne
So, Mr.
00:05:45 Breanne
Burkett, the car show came about organically, right?
00:05:48 Breanne
You had students that had some cool cars and you thought me, and I gotta figure out, a way to keep these kids engaged.
00:05:54 Breanne
And so how did that whole story come to be?
00:05:57 Taylor
So a lot of kids have their niche where band has their concerts.
00:06:01 Taylor
Sports has their activities.
00:06:03 Taylor
We don't really have anything like that as an automotive program, so I wanted to bring something together that would sort of bring the students together and the Community and our Community partners all together and at once.
00:06:14 Taylor
So this is a thing that popped into my head and Mrs. Lynch helps us out with that a ton and we get to hopefully have a very successful year this year on May 6th.
00:06:25 Breanne
May 6, 4 to 7 Harrisburg High School parking lot.
00:06:30 Taylor
It's going to be nice out and the sun will be shining.
00:06:33 Breanne
The weather's going to be amazing. It will not rain.
00:06:34 Taylor
Yes, so it's an.
00:06:37 Taylor
Extraordinary activity, though I'd love to see the community partners there and have the just watch the students mingle with the community.
00:06:44 Taylor
And the business partners and everything like that.
00:06:46 Taylor
So it's.
00:06:46 Breanne
Awesome talking about business and industry community partners.
00:06:49 Breanne
I know that you take your students out on some tours, So what tours have we been on and what?
00:06:53 Breanne
Have we learned from those experiences?
00:06:54 Riley
Our first one we went to Butler machinery and the brand is cat and it's like a big diesel industry with like different construction machinery.
00:07:04 Riley
We kind of took a tour around there and we learned about like what they do, how much they get paid, kind of what schools they recommend and.
00:07:14 Breanne
So a nice glimpse into the diesel technician side.
00:07:16 Breanne
Yeah, all right, Jill?
00:07:18 Breanne
Where'd you go?
00:07:18 Jill
We also went to Subaru Schulte Subaru on Minnesota.
00:07:23 Jill
We got to tour all of the different garages they had like their main garage where they had oil changes and then just like general maintenance going on.
00:07:33 Jill
We also got to see their Body Shop where they were rebuilding cars that had been.
00:07:36 Jill
Accidents we also got to see their restoration shop rebuilding like.
00:07:42 Jill
Just old stuff.
00:07:43 Jill
They had some really cool classic cars in there.
00:07:45 Breanne
I decided you get to see the supply of classic cars and beautiful.
00:07:48 Jill
My gosh, there were so many.
00:07:51 Jill
Very expensive, very expensive room.
00:07:53 Breanne
Yeah, so programs like Tiger Stripes Garage do not come to fruition without generous business and industry partners, so Schulte Subaru has been a huge part of that. J&M transmission. Mr. Burkett. Other sponsors. You'd want to recognize.
00:08:05 Taylor
I mean especially for the car show several.
00:08:08 Taylor
It's really nice to see the community come together to support these kids.
00:08:11 Taylor
It's phenomenal and I would say also off of the back of all of that is Schulte Subaru provides us with cars.
00:08:18 Taylor
So, uhm, the students.
00:08:20 Taylor
A lot of the time you usually end up with junker cars from the junkyard that the kids are working on, and that they they do get learning from it.
00:08:29 Taylor
But it's super nice to learn from newer cars that have sensors, backup cameras.
00:08:34 Taylor
All the more complicated stuff that are in newer cars today.
00:08:37 Taylor
So they provide us with that and.
00:08:39 Breanne
That's pretty awesome.
00:08:39 Breanne
Yeah, so a ton of business and industry partners will link a big list of those.
00:08:43 Breanne
Below our show.
00:08:46 Breanne
What's the future of Tigerstripe's garage and ladies? What do you want the future of the program to be?
00:08:51 Breanne
So maybe five years, 10 years, you come back to Harrisburg High School, what do?
00:08:55 Riley
You want to see hopefully a lot more like technology.
00:08:58 Riley
Kind of things like electric vehicles, how to manage those and even to repair them.
00:09:04 Riley
If you had to.
00:09:05 Riley
Since that's a big part of what kind of what vehicles are becoming, hopefully there could be a larger variety of what we can possibly do by getting more a larger variety on like tools and different machinery and stuff so it could do larger projects.
00:09:23 Riley
Yeah, just that little.
00:09:25 Jill
Of course, we would always want more time, but I don't know if we're going to be able to get that with already having double periods, but just being able to come back and see that the same quality of education that we got and the same inspiration that we got from taking it a maintenance program.
00:09:40 Jill
We took our first class was together.
00:09:43 Jill
We took a maintenance program because we both just wanted to learn how to change a tire.
00:09:47 Jill
And now here we are.
00:09:49 Jill
Three years later, we've been sucked into being teaching assistants, and we're.
00:09:53 Jill
Testing with the automotive 2 program.
00:09:56 Breanne
Alright, so we can't sugarcoat the fact that two females are now leaders in your classroom and in your program.
00:10:02 Breanne
How does that feel knowing that you have daughters at home?
00:10:04 Taylor
These yeah exactly.
00:10:06 Taylor
These two are phenomenal.
00:10:07 Taylor
And the reason I'll say that is because they took my car maintenance class, which is just a class that you learned to change a tire, jump a car, all the basics, even just basic oil change so you can do it on your own in your driveway.
00:10:20 Taylor
You don't learn anything about the lifts or anything like that.
00:10:23 Taylor
They started with that class, then they realized they were interested.
00:10:26 Taylor
Maybe a little bit more so.
00:10:27 Taylor
Then they took auto one auto.
00:10:29 Taylor
One is the leader into auto two.
00:10:31 Taylor
They finished auto one.
00:10:32 Taylor
They decided they want to take auto two.
00:10:33 Taylor
They took auto two so that's two periods a day, every day.
00:10:36 Taylor
So you get way more time in the shop and then after that they said hey we still have time left.
00:10:42 Taylor
We'd like to do something else.
00:10:43 Taylor
So now they are peer tutors in my auto two class helping me with all the other students when we're taking on some crazy projects.
00:10:50 Taylor
So it's amazing to see how these two have.
00:10:54 Taylor
Sort of experience the program all the way through and then even then some and they started all the way from the beginning.
00:11:01 Taylor
Not even really knowing if they wanted to do this or not, so it was pretty awesome.
00:11:05 Taylor
I would also say that these two are in industry right now.
00:11:08 Taylor
Riley is working in industry right now with one of our community partners.
00:11:12 Taylor
And then.
00:11:13 Taylor
Jill has just decided to go to Technical College for this so.
00:11:19 Breanne
Which school Jill?
00:11:19 Jill
I'm committed to Lake Area Technical College for their automotive program.
00:11:24 Breanne
Do you plan on going to school Riley or do you plan to go directly to the workforce?
00:11:27 Riley
I'm probably gonna go to school 1st and I'm planning on Southeast Tech because I've heard a lot of positive reviews about it and one of my coworkers actually goes there right now, so I get a lot of information off of him so.
00:11:39 Breanne
Where are you currently working?
Riley
I'm at billion Toyota.
00:11:41 Breanne
Wonderful so so many opportunities and just do you think this would have been a career path choice for you?
00:11:47 Breanne
This program didn't exist at the high school.
00:11:49 Jill
No, I was gonna go to art school.
00:11:51 JoAnne
OK.
00:11:52 Jill
So I did a full 180 so.
00:11:54 Riley
I sort of had an interest in it, but I think I'd work in the industry.
00:11:59 Riley
I thought I would just have like something as like a side.
00:12:01 Riley
Object, but I ended up getting interested by like my grandpa, my grandpa and my uncle.
00:12:08 Riley
So they were really big like into cars and stuff and I remember when I was younger.
00:12:11 Riley
I just like hand them tools or whatever and I just small interest, but I would just watch what they were doing and then slowly it build up to.
00:12:19 Breanne
Right now you two are awesome like I was the kid that my dad was the car guy.
00:12:23 Breanne
And I'd sit there and I'm like dad.
00:12:24 Breanne
This is so boring.
00:12:26 Breanne
And then I had a younger sister who was the car girl so they were super close and I was like.
00:12:31 Breanne
Cool, I'm going inside so I got out of some of that work, but it's really cool that you.
00:12:35 Breanne
Found a niche just by being willing to take a class.
00:12:38 Breanne
You know, challenge your thoughts about hey art school could be fun too, but I'm glad you found an interest in automotive.
00:12:44 Breanne
Your car portfolio might expand, it might.
00:12:47 Breanne
All right, well, is there anything else you'd like to share with our 412 listeners?
00:12:52 Breanne
Well, thanks for joining us and sharing all about your experiences in our Harrisburg Automotive technology program and your time at Tiger Stripes.
00:12:59 Taylor
Thanks for having us.