On August 25, WANADA executives, college officials, manufacturer representatives and participating service managers gathered with an incoming cohort of 30 automotive apprentices to kick-off the 2022 fall semester of the Automobile Dealer Education Institute’s (ADEI) Montgomery College training site.
DEI Chairman Harold Redden of Fitzgerald Auto Malls welcomed the attendees and new students and observed, “This is one of the largest incoming classes we’ve ever had, which is a testament to how great this program is.” Director of Education Joe Hemberger also spoke to the students, challenging the new apprentices to “work hard and dream big.”
The semester kick-off lunch is an opportunity for the students, who spend much of their time working in WANADA member dealer service departments, to interact with program administrators and their fellow students who attend classes on different days. When gathered all together, the true scale of the program is more easily observed.
“We have the largest dealer-sponsored automotive apprenticeship program in the country,” said WANADA President & CEO John O’Donnell. “We’ll have over 60 apprentices who are working in dealerships and attending class at Montgomery College alone. When you factor in our training site at Northern Virginia Community College and our new site in Prince George’s County, which we hope to have up and running inside of a month, we’ll have upwards of 90 apprentices program wide.”
ADEI helps aspiring, entry-level technicians find jobs at local dealerships. Once hired, the dealer then sponsors the technician’s education at one of WANADA’s three training sites, where they go to class one day per week. The curriculum is certified by the ASE Education Foundation and includes manufacturer training as well. After two years, the apprentices have enough classroom education and on-the-job training to become ASE-certified master technicians. The dealership pays a portion of the tuition by sponsoring each apprentice, but the vast majority of the program costs are covered by WANADA as a member service.
If you are interested in learning more about ADEI to see if it would be a good fit for your service department, please contact Joe Hemberger via phone or email: 267-346-1700; jh@wanada.org.
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