Skills USA Champion Rachel Fonseca

I had the opportunity to meet Rachel Fonseca while at NACE. After meeting Rachel, it was easy to see how she was a Gold Medal Champion at Skills USA state and Silver Medal Winner at Skills USA Nationals. Rachel’s perseverance to make things happen and favorable personality has opened many doors for her in the collision repair industry.

Rachel has loved cars for as long as she can remember and working on them is her life. She graduated from Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational High School, in New Bedford, MA, where she majored in Collision Repair.

While at Voc, Rachel participated in SkillsUSA, and then became the first female in the 34 year MA state history to win Gold in Collision Repair. She was also the only student ever to win double Gold in Collision Repair & Automotive Refinishing. She then moved on to place second in Collision Repair at the SkillsUSA 2008 Nationals.

Currently, Rachel is employed as an Adult Education Instructor (teaching Collision Repair and Small Engine Repair) at Voc and also an assistant manager at an ice rink. Most of her free time is spent volunteering with Voc's Collision program on the Curriculum Advisory Board and training current students for the SkillsUSA competition. Rachel is also attending the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth to obtain a business degree.

It was a pleasure to meet Rachel and I wish her well on her bright future and endeavors. I would also like to thank Rachel for showing the other women out there that may be interested in technical education that it is possible to be successful in a male dominated industry.

Interview With Rich Evans at SEMA 2009

I just returned from NACE and SEMA in Las Vegas, NV.  I had a lot of fun and met many people that I will be blogging about over the next several weeks.  

The first post is an interview that I had with Rich Evans.  Rich is a custom car builder in California at Huntington Beach Body Works.   I asked Rich to share a little advice for students that are in a collision repair career pathway or for students that may be considering collision repair or related careers.   You can watch the interview below to hear what he had to say.

Rich is not only a very known and successful custom car builder, he is also the face for our friends at Chicago Pneumatic Tools.  CP Tools is a huge advocate for education, as they support the School Of The Year award every year, which awards 1000's of dollars in tools to technical schools.  

I would like to give a special thanks to educational supporters like Rich Evans, CP Tools, Tomorrows Technicians, and CollisionHub.com for their support to technical education.  

 

Check back later to see who else I ran into while I was there.

 

Happy Halloween from The Butler Blues Sisters

The Butler Blues Sisters (Butler President and Vice President) Wishing Butler a Happy Halloween!

It's Great To Be A Part Of Butler!

It's That Time of Year - SEMA & NACE

It’s that time of year again. You car enthusiast know what time that is…that’s right, time for SEMA and NACE in Las Vegas. Only a few more days and I’m getting excited.
I attend NACE to get the training that I need as required by NATEF. All schools that are NATEF Accredited must have ASE certified instructors. They are also required to maintain a minimum of 20 hours of training each year to stay up-to-date with what is going on in the industry.

It’s not all about training! This also gives us the opportunity to network with leaders in the industry, which also keeps us on track with our curriculum. The expiations of the industry are important to me and I try to incorporate that into our program. This year, Rachel Fonseca and I will be videoing a few interviews with leaders in the industry, hot cars, and hopefully a few celebrities. The Collision Hub will edit the videos and add them to CollisionHub.com on a daily basis. So to get the latest news and updates from SEMA and NACE, be sure to visit the http://www.collisionhub.com/.

If you’re going to be there, please let me know. I would like to have the chance to meet with you.

Talk to you soon,
Donnie Smith

BCC Students Demonstrate How To Replace Gas and Wire on MIG

Each student is required to Disassemble and Re-Assemble GMA (MIG) Welder's, And Oxyacetylene equipment. The students are also exposed on how to troubleshoot and fix potential problems which may occur with everyday use.

Here Me, and Douglas "Chicago" Change the gas and wire on a GMA (MIG) Welder.


~Samuel

Students Demonstrate How To Paint and Blend

Below are a few videos of students demonstrating how to paint.

Brandyn demonstrated how to repair and paint a bumper cover. He will blend within a panel to provide a good color match for the vehicle.

ide a good color match for the vehicle.

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BCC Students are repairing, painting and blending on a s-10 pick-up. Black is normally an easy color to match, but were practicing blending methods. On this job we performed a traditional blend on the adjacent panel and a traditional blend within a panel on the right front fender.

Check Back To Stay Updated With What Is Going On At BCRN

First Year Students Welding Progress

As we come into the last two weeks of our welding class most of the students have already passed several of the tests. We have already learned how to set up and operate GMA MIG and Oxyacetylene equipment. The following are the welds we will be tested in; plug welds, lap joint, and butt joint welds all done in the flat, vertical, and overhead positions. In the last two weeks students are expected to pass all tests and will have a good knowledge of welding and the welding equipment.



~Samuel