Chris English says working on cars is a dying art. Employees, whether they are fixing cars or truck drivers, are often depicted as working in sweltering conditions with worn, grimy hands as battle scars from their labor.
Then there’s a stigma of being dishonest and overcharging customers. English, who got his start as a mechanic before he eventually became president of Southeastern Community College, said these misconceptions make it harder to recruit young talent into these fields, but that’s not the whole truth. More students, especially in Whiteville and across southeastern North Carolina, are looking to build experience in the automotive sector.
Part of this interest comes from the industry’s growth in North Carolina in recent years. Toyota announced plans in 2021 to expand its Randolph County electric vehicle battery plant, which will add roughly 5,000 jobs. VinFast, a Vietnamese automotive operation, plans to open its first North American plant at Chatham County’s Triangle Innovation Point from an 800-hectare parcel of land.
“It’s a good industry that teaches you how to solve problems,” he said. “There’s a lot to learn from building these skills, both in manufacturing and outside in their own lives.”
More than 250 automotive and transportation manufacturers have locations in North Carolina, including NASCAR’s home base in Charlotte, making it the largest manufacturing state in the southeastern United States, according to the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.
That momentum is enough fuel to drive large-scale investments at SCC, English said, where the school will break ground on a $22 million project that will eventually become a 22,000-square-foot transportation science, technology, engineering, and math lab. The center will be a hub for the school’s six degrees and certificate programs that focus on automotive technology and repairs, as well as its truck driving training program.
Leaders of the project hope to see it fully built and operational by January 2027 to accommodate students. English said the program’s current facilities on SCC’s campus are limited in space, making it difficult to fully immerse students in the curriculum and offer updated technology that meets the needs of a rapidly changing industry sector. The to-be-constructed facility is roughly a sixfold increase of the school’s current space.
English says it’s the largest initiative the school has undertaken in his five years as SCC president. Construction on a $400,000 greenhouse project began late last year. SCC also renovated its M-Building earlier this year, home to the Columbus Career and College Academy and the college’s HVAC and welding operations.
The transportation facility’s size and cost, however, far exceed the school’s other projects. It plans to build a Commercial Drivers License lab where students can administer maintenance and inspections on 18-wheeler trucks, diesel, and other heavy equipment. A dyno cell, which can cost at least a million dollars for a proper set, will allow platform parking so cars can be tested without needing to be driven, where they can test performance by simulating road conditions, and offer a compact, streamlined way to test it.
The new facility will have 10 vehicle lifts, climate-controlled classrooms, and air-conditioned lab areas that can accommodate more cars and equipment. The school will be able to further collaborate with Ford and Hyundai for apprenticeships, according to automotive technology instructor David Higgins.
“This will be a space that will make it easier for students to learn exactly what is required of them with this job, to know exactly what it takes,” he said.
English says this kind of investment will pay back dividends.
“We will have the capacity to give students the space, infrastructure, and technology that they will be seeing after they leave our facilities and take jobs elsewhere,” he said.
It’s also a passion project, given his background as a mechanic for 10 years. English graduated from Greenville Technical College in South Carolina in 1989 with a degree in industrial design, and while working at his father’s garage, he learned how to repair and inspect cars and balance budgets.
He was eventually hired to revitalize the auto mechanic program at Blue Ridge Community College, added another campus in Transylvania County, started a high school program, and bridged apprenticeships at major dealers like BMW, Ford, and Toyota. But it was his experience with the family business, specifically in building a skill-set where he got to use his hands, that has made his career into what it is now.
Growth in the automotive programs has been steady, and English hopes the new center will bring in more students. An average of 40 students are enrolled in each of the certificate, diploma or degree programs.
The industry’s future has also changed so drastically that it’s unclear what a growing dependence on electric vehicles will mean for the manual side of things. General Motors announced four years ago that it would switch to full-electric vehicles by 2035. Electric vehicle sales grew 21% in July compared to the previous year, according to a Reuters report.
Since electric vehicles have fewer parts and generally cost less to repair on average, an overall switch could affect the next generation of mechanics. English said the dyno cell addresses this change, since it allows students to conduct diagnostic testing on electric vehicles.
“We actually already teach the standards for EV, but this will allow us to teach the advanced courses,” he said.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projected a 3 percent growth between 2023 to 2033 for automotive service technicians and mechanics, and roughly 67,800 openings every year on average.
The future of the former location and what it will become is still in question. English says the metal building, a flexible space between SCC’s M and B buildings that’s around 3,500 square feet, may be used in conjunction with the new space.
“It was designed with that in mind and allows us to do start up programs like the automotive,” English said.
The project’s groundbreaking ceremony will take place at SCC at 10 a.m. on Aug. 18.
