MSU BILLINGS NEWS—The auto body program at City College at Montana State University Billings partnered with the National Auto Body Council’s Recycled Rides program for the second year to help with the donation of a refurbished car to a local family. Micki Morrow and her daughter were presented with the vehicle at the City College Car Show and Collision Repair Exploration Day in April.

The day featured a car show with over fifty cars, food, prizes and vendors. Steve Wodrich, auto body instructor at City College, organized the event to allow the public to view the auto body program and all the opportunities it can bring.

The highlight of the show came when Wodrich’s students unveiled this year’s Recycled Rides project. Recycled Rides is a program developed by the National Auto Body Council as a way to help low-income families get a vehicle when they would otherwise be unable to afford one. This year, State Farm Insurance donated a 2014 Ford Fusion to the cause.

Auto body students disassembled the vehicle, assessed the damage, wrote the estimate using OEM repair procedures, and performed repairs. Diesel program students at City College also worked on the car and replaced an engine cradle and performed an alignment on the vehicle.

Wodrich worked with Love, Inc. of Yellowstone County and the Harvest Church Car Care program to find the recipient of this year’s car. The Fusion was presented to Morrow and her daughter during the awards ceremony at the car show. Morrow had not been able to afford a vehicle for several years and had to depend on friends and family members for rides to work. “This makes me feel free,” Morrow said as she tearfully accepted the keys to her new car and thanked the students that worked on it. “I’ve wanted to put my daughter in soccer and take her to meet my family in Miles City but was never able to do that until now.”

“This is a great project for the students,” Wodrich said. “Not only do they get the experience of working on a newer vehicle, but they also get a chance to see the difference they can make in someone’s life.”

Over $5,000 in parts were donated to the project by Archie Cochrane Ford, Denny Menholt Frontier Chevrolet, American Auto Body, OHS Body Shop, Rick’s Auto Body, AA Truck Collision, Dietz Auto Salvage, Hank’s Body Shop, Intertek Parts, Big Sky Collision Center, the Montana Collision Repair Association, National Coatings and Supplies and Axalta Coating Systems. Hail Team 6 also provided some paintless dent repair.

Wodrich plans on making the car show an annual event and will give away a Recycled Ride at it every year.

For more information about the City College auto body program or Recycled Rides, contact Steve Wodrich at 247-3041 or at steven.wodrich@msubillings.edu.

Before

After

“I took a before and after photo.  The kids had fun doing this, and we tried; it is pretty close.

This is the first project the kids worked on.  My theory is: “If you can repair a fender, you can repair the entire car!”  We talk about the multiple panels the car is made up of, and so to a certain extent, this is true.  

I put 4-5 dents, make an artificial rust spot for them to repair, and then they go to work.  After the repairs have been made, they prime it, block sand it, prime it again, and then wet sand the fender in preparation for paint. (We also cover dry sanding in preparation for paint.) I know the pictures do not do them justice, but most of the fenders would be right at home on any car driving around town.  This is a shortened version of what is covered, but they get all the instruction necessary to actually repair an entire car.

Again, thank you so much for your generous donation.  My budget has been cut by $6,000.00 next year, and every year it is a challenge to teach what is needed to go out into the industry, with the necessary skills to be successful.  I, and the kids appreciate it very much.” 

Bill Stone
Auto Collision Repair Instructor
Muskegon Area Career Tech Center – Muskegon, MI

September 2018

CAPA provided shirts to roughly 300 (Collision Repair Education Foundation) student scholarship applicants this year. In addition, the following schools received CAPA shirts (2000+ in total):

Lenoir Community College Automotive Customizing Technology student Harley Smith of Albertson recently received the 2016 Collision Repair Education Foundation 3M Hire Our Heroes Tool Grant award. The recognition comes with a $4,500 worth of tools for the collision repair industry.

For the past four years, 3M has teamed up with the Collision Repair Education Foundation to provide scholarships and tool grants to veterans entering the collision repair industry. This foundation is focused on training, supporting and educating students who are entering collision repair.

“As technicians in this industry retire, we find ourselves with a shortage of qualified individuals entering the business. This is 3M and the Foundation’s effort to address that problem we are facing,” 3M Collision Repair Representative Shane Creasy of Cary said.

Smith is a 20-year US Air Force veteran and served in the logistics and transportation field. He was stationed in North Carolina, Alaska, Nebraska and Virginia as well as several tours of duty overseas. Married for 17 years to his wife, Terry, they have two grown children, and a granddaughter.

After he retired, Smith said he took a year off to decide what he wanted to do. “A neighbor suggested the Automotive Customizing program because he knew I like old cars,” he said. “I met Toby Evans and this was just a great fit. The instructors, Toby (Evans) and Daniel (Shrader) have been great to guide us and help us along the way. I’ve learned a lot.”

“I am so grateful for this award,” Smith said. “This is really going to start me out on the right footing. I have accumulated some tools, but not body shop specific tools, collision repair specific tools. This is definitely a blessing to me and I do give thanks to God for all the blessings I have received. Every day I count my blessings,” he said.

“If you’re a student of history, you know that there have been times in our country that returning veterans have not been treated quite as well as they should have. This is humbling and great to me to see the respect and the admiration that the civilian community places with us veterans,” he said. “I am in awe of this. If my plans and God’s plans work out for my life, I will be working on cars in the second half of my life. I feel like this is what I should be doing.”

Creasy and Account Manager with CarQuest Auto Parts Gary Arnette made the award presentation at the LCC Automotive Customizing Technology facility on Vernon Avenue.

LCC Automotive Customizing Technology Program Chair Toby Evans said that Smith was an excellent student and most deserving of this award. “Harley is the first student ever at Lenoir Community College to receive the 3M Hire Our Heroes Tool Grant and we are very proud of him.”

For more information on the Automotive Customizing Technology Program, contact Evans at 252 686-0970.

Auto Body Scholarship Awards

The Thomas Edison Collision Program in New York offers a three-year, hands-on training experience where students learn various tasks and skills required for employment in the collision industry. CAPA proudly supports these efforts, and in October of this year CAPA donated 20 parts to contribute to the education for the collision repairers of the future.

Winners of the 2013 Ultimate Collision Education Makeover Grant from the Collision Repair Education Foundation. CAPA is proud to sponsor I-CAR and the students who are the future of the collision repair industry.