ERIE, Kan. — Erie High School is giving its students some real-life experience… On cars.

“The automotive program here at Erie High School is probably one of the best programs we have. I love this program. I’ve been in this program for four years being here since my freshman year,” said Joey Vincent, student.

“We give them the basics to where they can go on to an institution like a career tech ed program at one of the local colleges. or trade schools,” said Jack Simmons, EHS Teacher.

The automotive career and technical education program gives students the opportunity to do live work on cars.

“Yeah we learn how to work on brake systems, transmissions, and oil changes and all that,” said Timmy Borton, student.

Preparing them for a job in the automotive field, and not just doing repair work.

“There are 1,000s of jobs in the automotive field and yes part of them are working on cars, but many of them are in the engineering design, fabrication, part sales marketing of aftermarket parts, etc,” said Simmons

Next month the program will take its annual trip to Indiana for the national performance racing industry convention and trade show.

“It was probably the best experience of my life. It was so much fun, There are a lot of big colleges out there. Mr. Simmons let us go to all the colleges and talk to colleges to see if we can get scholarships,” said Vincent.

“This is a huge career experience for the students to understand there’s a lot of things out there that are great career opportunities for them. And all these industries right now are looking for help and want to employ people who are coming out of schools right now,” said Simmons.