By Mary Macrae ‘14

Every year a group of students from Sherwood submit an application to take a half-day schedule to attend Thomas Edison to pursue their chosen career. The Edison classes offered are three periods long and earn two credits.

There are a variety of different courses students can choose to take at Edison, and they are divided into four clusters: automotive, design and computer-based, construction and services. Each cluster has different careers for students to learn and study. There are a multitude of opportunities for students to get hands-on experience as well.

The automotive cluster is particularly popular for Sherwood students, who spend about an hour and half of the period working in the lab and the other half in the classroom studying the different mechanisms and concepts of the automobile function. “In my class we spend 1½ periods of time in the lab and the other 1½ periods would be in our classroom, studying theory of how the different components of the automobile function. This then teaches the students how to examine and analyze the different components for proper function. If it doesn’t function correctly, the component would be replaced. This would be the hands-on part and with diagnosing skills,” explained Ivey Robert, Auto Technology teacher at Edison.

Students in the automotive cluster get the opportunity to work on actual cars that are donated to the program. “The first-year students begin with brakes.   They learn about brakes in the classroom then come to the lab where they get to disassemble and reassemble front and rear brake components from various vehicles.  They are taught to adhere to industry standards while doing this,” said Matthew Page, an Edison Auto Technology teacher.

Students start by learning braking, move to electricity, then steering and suspension, finishing with engine performance.  “Each day we always learn a new thing,” said junior Joey Prochaska. “Lately we’ve just been doing maintenance like tire repairs and we’re just learning oil changes. We typically learn from the bottom of the car up. So from tires we go to roaders, then to axles, then to control arms and then transmissions.”

The class sizes are usually  between 20 and 25 students, which allows the teachers to devote a lot of time to help students and refine their various skills.

A number of students in the program have known from an early age that they wanted to go into a career in the automotive field. Students have previously found Edison gives them the tools needed to pursue that goal. “I might go to college after or my uncle has an auto body shop and I might take over that. I like the program because I don’t really like school and I like working on cars, so it’s something I can do,” said senior Jake Bartell, a student in the Edison program.

Edison is intended as a gateway for students to enter their work careers. “A lot of our students do enter into automotive careers after graduation. Tons of our students do go onto secondary education whether it be in a trade school or a four-year university. We have a summer internship program that happens for the select students that are juniors and going into their senior year,” said Page.