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The Automotive Class at Downey High School is based on the idea of career potential education, to help develop professionals for the industry. Students that are ready for their career; in this class it is to show students that they can do things. “It’s really about developing professionals in general and for a few developing technicians”, Mr. Linares stated. The automotive class here at Downey High School started in 2013, though a lot of schools over the decades had closed automotive programs due to budgetary reasons, for Downey, a man named Mr. Tony Mednez who since passed away, had put up the automotive facility and developed programs injunction with Rio Hondo College in the beginning and now with Cerritos College. Focusing to start people working within high school age groups and to train them. “Back in 2013 they put all this together and it was a slow start and it took a few years to get up and running”, Mr. Linares continued. Later showing its successes and opportunities for students. The automotive classes have two sets of opportunities because there are two pathways. Such as receiving benefits, gaining experience, achieving college credit, and more. Some fun facts about the class are the hands-on participation, getting to see the rough nature of adult life from time to time, and students getting to approach adulthood a little bit more. The automotive shop works on Domestic and Japanese vehicles, very few German or European vehicles, mainly focusing on the vehicles that are being used by students and other people. After a semester of learning about fuel sources, machinery of different engine types, and movement vehicles, students are currently working on what’s called a “magical vehicle”. Along with Mr. Linares observing his students to see if they are ready or not to do an oil change as an example and knowing that practice is very important. Mr. Linares then shares about the automotive class and students getting to have hands-on experience. “Hands-on is supposed to be about 60 to 70% of what we do. When we get to the hands-on it’s on our lab vehicles so that they can practice”. Mr. Linares stated, “They do get the real hands-on experience on real vehicles, real equipment, real tools in our real shop”. What are Mr. Linares’s thoughts about the automotive class? According to him, out of all the trade skills sets that a student could learn in a high school environment, he believes that the automotive trades is the most approachable set such as “applied skills” for students to earn. “We have to apply language, we have to have a sense of history from where things came from”. Continues by sharing the importance of mechanical knowledge, simple business sense, safety, and more. “Apply all the things that they learn”, Mr. Linares states, “One of the most valuable skills set a student can have even if they’re not going into the trade, they can at least take care of their car and become responsible users and consumers”. A background story on Mr. Linares is how he spent his first chunk of his career as a soldier, now a veteran, worked for a motor company for some time, and has been an automotive inspector, including owning his own business to keep people out of trouble. Though wanting to be a teacher, specifically a music teacher, Mr. Linares had to give that up in terms of working for the army. This being his 7th year, hoping to become permanente, Mr. Linares started teaching in 2018, getting started through Rio Hondo College. As for his home life, he has 3 children, owns a pig, raises chickens, who also shows to be a farmer, loves legos, enjoys time, and loves to listen to different types of music with Boogie Woogie Blues from the late 60s being his favorite. Upon entering his classroom, on the left side of the class, there are many special chosen Hot Wheels gifted from students to remind and thank Mr. Linares for what he has done, a remembrance of appreciation and a pat on the back. His dream car is a black with gold, 1971 De Tomaso Pantera, “It’s a quote on quote supercar, it’s not quite the super car, but it’s just this wedge looking thing with giant wheels in the back and a big engine you know, uncomfortable go-pass, you know zoomed-down-the-road kind of car from when I was a kid”. Students who are interested in joining, Mr. Linares shares what he would tell other students and what the process would look like even if there may be resistance from counselors or parents. “All are welcomed, as long as the person can get the work done or at least get a lot of the work done”. “I want to show everybody in my shop that they can do something, it’s the matter of patience”. Doing his personal best to welcome everybody, “even if you need help along the way, as long as you can be safe and get out there and do things then you’ll be good to go”. From here on students share how they started and the overall experiences they had in the Automotive Class. Lucy Merciado, 11, “I was a sophomore and I had seen it around here, had seen the shop and I was just really intrigued. So, I had just come to his classroom one day and asked him about it. He told me about it, but I think I have seen something from Downey High School from their paper. I really liked it, it really sparked my interest really bad.” Merciado stated. Her favorite things about this class are collaborating with her friends, communicating with the teacher, and doing hands-on learning experience. A lesson that was learned while attending this class was to always do true and honest work. Continuing to let others know about attending this class. “They should definitely try it, I think it’s a very new experience, especially the students of Downey High because it’s different than many other programs and there’s a lot of things you can’t find anywhere else like you can find here.” Merciado stated. Matthew Ruiz, 11, had heard about the automotive class from friends and from recommendations, including how cars were a main interest for him for a very long time. “I just thought it be a cool experience and I’m enjoying it so far. One of the things I really love is that it’s like a hands-on class, I learn best like when it’s hands-on and how openly we can express ourselves in this environment, and how there’s a bunch of collaborations”. Ruiz stated, “It just feels like if you ever need help you can ask anybody. One thing for sure is how open and inviting the classroom is, everybody collaborates together, everyone can just work together hand and hands”. Marciela Dircio, 11, had seen a post on the Downey High Instagram and had always liked cars. She had spoken to her counselor and liked how open and inviting the automotive class can be. “I liked how open it can be, how he (referring to Mr. Linares) lets us express ourselves. Just being able to work with others”. Dircio stated. Worth ethic seems to be agreeable among the students, “Work ethic”, Dircio stated, “Just because you don’t rely on anybody else, it’s all your work and if you mess up that’s on you, if you’re doing good that’s your work”.