Ethan Galentine is a senior at Sebastian River High School in Sebastian, Florida. While wrapping up his senior year, Ethan is getting a taste of the workforce working as a lube technician at a local Honda dealership. Ethan is credited for his passion for working on cars and his ‘get it done’ attitude. Welcome to, Ethan Galentine!
Ethan, what first inspired you to take automotive classes?
I used to have this friend group that they enjoyed purchasing old and beat up cars and they liked to fix them up and basically make them like new, like they had just purchased it from the dealership. They always liked to take me on their drives, and it was just an amazing experience and I absolutely loved going on the drives and it just showed me how much I really liked going over, working on cars, talking about them, driving them, all that. I loved it.
How challenging has it been to get a taste of the workforce while in your senior year?
Well, I was surprised about that. It was relatively simple and easy, I was able to just walk in, use Mr. Roux’s influence and my previous run-ins because we go to that dealership for service as well. So, it was relatively easy I didn’t even have to do an interview. He just offered me a job right there on the spot and it has been an amazing experience ever since then.
What has it been like preparing for your ASE entry level certifications? How do you plan to pass all 9 tests by the school end of the school year?
Preparing for those tests has been a little bit difficult I will admit, because a lot of it is on the computer. It’s online coursework, and coursework online for someone who’s pretty hands on isn’t exactly the most ideal thing, but really all I need to pass these certifications is time. That’s how I plan to move on. I just need the remaining time just to pass these last four or five.
Do you have a favorite project that you have worked on/are working on that’d you’d like to share?
I don’t think I have any projects currently that I’m working on, but I would like to continue that tradition with that old friend group that I had mentioned before. I would like to just buy older cars. I would like to restore them back to normal and maybe even sell them off again and continue that. Or maybe I’ll keep them and have a collection of old cars, sort restoring old classic cars, that really interests me. I would like to do something like that.
What are your plans for the future?
My plans are to continue what I’m doing now, not working as a lube tech, but gaining experience in this workforce. I plan to become a diagnostician. I want to become a diagnostician. People will bring their problem cars to me; I’ll be able to tell them what’s wrong just by looking at it. I just want to be a diagnostician and learning it from this dealership is probably the best option I have because everyone there is very knowledgeable.
Ethan’s instructor, Garrett Roux says,
So, the reason I chose Ethan is because he gets so excited just about the most mundane of vehicles, literally I’ve had him get excited over a Honda Accord coming in the shop and really just automobiles in general. I haven’t had something that I’ve given Ethan that he wasn’t excited to do, and it could be anything from an oil change to tearing apart an engine to anything. And he’s always ready to learn. And just like he told you that he literally has been seeking out this job at Honda for multiple years now and he’s doing fantastic. And when I went to talk to his employer, he says, “I always can entrust Ethan with anything. He has made a few mistakes here and there, but he’s always willing to learn from those mistakes.” And that you can’t teach that.
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