OSU Institute of Technology’s Pro-Tech program in the School of Automotive Technologies recently received a donation of a 2016 Subaru WRX STi to aid in student training.
The Pro-Tech program is geared toward independent automotive shops rather than specific manufacturers. This type of program encounters obstacles to obtaining newer technology. In 2018, the program was named a Subaru University partner school.
The Subaru University program is unlike other original equipment manufacturer educational programs. Subaru-U is designed to create a unique partnership between Subaru of America, the retailer and high performing NATEF/AYES accredited secondary and post-secondary schools.
“We selected OSUIT for its strong reputation and student demographics,” said Chris Weigel, technical training education manager at Subaru of America. “Many students will come to Okmulgee and return home with gained knowledge from this program.”
This is the second car donation from Subaru since the program’s origination on campus. Last year, they donated a 2015 Subaru Forester, a CVT transmission, SSMIII scan tool, digital oscilloscope, and several tools for students who graduate having finished the program.
Weigel said that the donations Subaru has provided to OSUIT should benefit the students with current technology to train on and develop the skills needed to succeed in the industry.
“As the independent shop program, we find it difficult to acquire training vehicles and this partnership has allowed us to have more modern and current vehicles and technology to train the students,” said Ryan Lasarsky, instructor for Pro-Tech. “Subaru has also sent trainers to the campus to provide ongoing training to the students on topics such as driver assist technologies.”
Lasarsky said that this recent car donation will be used as a trainer for all classes, with the exception of automatic transmissions, due to the manual transmission.
Corey Oliver, a student in the Pro-Tech program says the vehicle donation is helpful to his education. “They provide our classroom with an updated set of vehicles so we can experience firsthand some late model technology that the rest of our vehicles do not have.”
“Our partnership has been great with strong completion of our training and support from Ryan Lasarsky,” said Weigel. “As we continue to grow this relationship, the opportunity to integrate portions of our instructor-led training will likely be an option for the Pro-Tech program, furthering the student’s training credibility within the industry.”