El Paso County donates car to trade school

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO)- A class of trade students in Colorado Springs is getting some hands-on experience when it comes to working with cars, courtesy of El Paso County. The donation is a big step up from what students at the Power Technical Charter School had to work with before.

Automotive instructor Garrett Mertz said this new gift brings new possibilities to his students.

"Without this, there's just one motorcycle and a couple engines on the side to learn hands on stuff. But with this, I can teach them anything and everything," said Mertz.

He said he hopes this car will help students learn the basics when it comes to repairing cars.

"Show them how to do an oil change properly. Show them how to where to put the oil and where not to put the oil," said Mertz.

There's 11 students in the advance maintenance and repairs class. KRDO13 talked with several of them who are excited to start working on the car.

"Like, sometimes we'd go out to the teacher's car, you know, and, like, just talk about stuff in theory and that was kind of boring. But now that we have a car and we can do stuff hands on, that's going to be great," said Aiden Warren, 11th grade student.

"I do feel like being more active, more touchy on on mechanical stuff would actually help us learn," said Angel Gonzalez, 11th grade student. "It's a big honor having this, especially for the first couple of months. Not us having a vehicle to work on."  

The county is already working on donating more cares in other schools in El Paso County.