GEORGETOWN, Del. - There's a new program at a brand new facility at Delaware Technical Community College. On Wednesday, the community college held a building dedication for the Automotive Center of Excellence. According to Delaware Tech, the facility has the first diesel mechanic program in the region. This comes at a time when there is a shortage of diesel mechanics in Delaware.
The full name of the program is "Diesel Technology Associate of Applied Science degree." While the auto technician program is not new, the diesel mechanic program is. The college says the new facility will double the number of automotive technicians trained at Delaware Tech each year, and it will also allow the college to train up to 15 diesel mechanics .The president of the school says this was all possible through multiple partnerships.
Delaware Tech student, Ronald Graham, has great plans for his future, which he can prepare for at the Automotive Center of Excellence.
"This new building and program will help me because I want to be a world class technician at Chevy, and having a diesel program will help me learn light duty diesels. Chevy they have duramax engines, so I will be better trained to work on those," said Graham.
The college aims to send more automotive technicians and diesel mechanics out into a struggling workforce.
"There's been a tremendous demand out in the market, so employers have been coming to us saying they need more trained professionals in auto technician ... so with this facility we can expand the capacity of the auto technician program, but add the diesel certification component to that as well," said President Mark Brainard.
The college received a nearly $2 million dollar grant from the federal government.
"The dealers have shared to me over the years, they are unable to find people, so we are going to grow our own. We are going to grow our own with the help of Delaware Tech, we are going to grow our own with the help of the Delaware legislature, we are going to grow our own with the help of the federal government," said Senator Tom Carper.
Sussex County also played a role in this project, offering $200,000 in funds. The county says this is an investment into the economy and the community.
And with almost $2 million from the state's higher education fund, Governor Carney has high hopes for the future.
"To get students like Ronald, his testimony was excellent, to see more and more Delaware students come through the program, enter into the workforce, make a good living and support their families," said the governor.
It's a facility that will help Ronald not only achieve his dreams, but help other industries who rely on diesel mechanics.
Several other organizations also helped turn this facility into a reality. Brainard says with this state of the art lab students are job ready on day one.