The World of Speed Motorsports Museum in Wilsonville, Oregon, offers automotive education programs for high school students.
From Jason Buehrer’s article on the Portland Monthly website:
A bright fall Tuesday. Some high school kids might, at this very moment, be texting their way through English class. But in a gleaming suburban auto repair shop, a group of juniors and seniors from Newberg High crowd around the exposed brake system of a red sedan. They’re part of the automotive education program at World of Speed, a two-year-old Wilsonville museum that houses a Chevy Monte Carlo driven by Dale Earnhardt Jr., for instance, and celebrates the Bonneville Salt Flats’ speed-trial tracks and the Northwest’s rich racing history. Behind the scenes, however, WOS chases a different checkered flag: hands-on education.
Like most schools in Oregon, Newberg no longer offers a shop program, part of a larger trend toward four-year college prep and away from vocational programs. (The recently approved Measure 98 will direct education funding to vocational programs—if there’s an adequate increase in state revenues.)
“Shop programs are disappearing,” says Lewis Ferguson, the director of education for World of Speed. “Out of 500 high schools in Oregon, 40 have auto-tech programs.”
Click HERE to read the entire article about the automotive education program at World of Speed, on the Portland Monthly website.
