A racing simulator. Spark plug challenges. And go-kart and minibike showcases.

Those were among the features that the Regional Occupation Program’s [ROP] auto tech class presented to welcome eighth-graders from neighboring Parks Junior High on Friday, Jan. 10. They had come to the gym to not only learn about auto tech, but also about the campus’ athletics, gaming and coding and performing arts.

“I looked forward to being able to talk to students outside of school,” said senior Jared Dye, who has participated in two preview days since he was a sophomore.

Auto tech teacher Jesse Munoz said he and his students prepared a station where auto tech students could interact with the middle schoolers and show them different projects they worked on over the school year to let potential incoming ninth-graders know what’s in store for them should they choose to enroll in the elective.

“This preview day was a lot bigger and a lot more entertaining,” Dye said, comparing it to previous ones he participated in.

For the spark plug challenge, the auto tech students took an engine head off of a motor and built a metal stand to support it. During the preview day, students competed against each other to see who could take out and put back in all the spark plugs of the engine in the least amount of time.

“It’s just one of the easiest ways that a kid can get their hands on something like this – [working with] spark plugs [is] a common job that you learn here but we’re able to add a little bit of competition spirit to it,” Munoz said.

In terms of the racing simulator, senior Sebastien Roque – who’s in Munoz’s third period Advanced Auto Tech class – said he and his classmates programmed the two ViewSonic monitors to use with an Xbox console. 

The students also put together a gaming chair, steering wheel, shifter and pedals to use instead of a standard controller when playing any racing game, Roque said.

“It was fun because it was one of the first projects we got to make as a class and actually get to use in class,” he said. “I’m looking forward to being able to show off [to the visitors] what I made in class.”

Roque said he contributed a go-kart to the event when he bought it from Facebook Marketplace for $400 on Tuesday, Oct. 29. After finding a motor, the students tested it until it was safe enough to drive around. 

However, because of insurance and safety issues, school officials told auto tech students they were not allowed to let visitors ride it.

Dye said, “[Nevertheless], I was super excited to see what the middle schoolers thought about the go-kart and hopefully get them excited about the class,” Dye said.

The class will also have a minibike on display that Roque said he bought for $300 from the same website for a classmate on Saturday, Nov. 16.

The auto tech students said they planned to share their experience of being in the class like working on cars and other benefits of enrolling in the program to potential students.

“We explained the benefits of the class like being able to diagnose an issue on your own before taking it to a shop where you don’t have to think, ‘are they scamming me?” and you have an actual basic knowledge of your car,” Dye said.