BY JESSICA LYONS • JILLIAN ABBOTT • VICTOR G. MIMONI
Walking through the parking lot towards Lincoln Tech's training facility it's impossible not to notice that there are few female students on the grounds. The numbers, seven female students out of 280 students, have prompted management to encourage women who are entering, or re-entering the work force to think again about careers in the automotive industry.
On December 4, Heather Wilkerson, a student at Lincoln Tech's state-of-the-art automotive maintenance training facility in Whitestone received the Joseph J. Sanchez Memorial Fund grant of $7,000 from the National Automobile Dealers Charitable Foundation (NADCF) at the Center for Automotive Education & Training.
With plans to expand to 800 students over the next few years, Lincoln Tech is a female-friendly learning space with perfectly clean and well-maintained workspaces and polite, uniformed students.
Lincoln Tech's commitment to student safety and pride in appearance and mission is readily apparent by the pristine condition of the building. “Safety is a high priority here,” instructor John Fontanes said. The facility includes high-tech, shop-side classrooms and boasts twelve lifts located in the first floor auto bays. Uniforms, books and tools are all included in tuition at Lincoln Tech, which is fully accredited and licensed by the New York State Education Department.
The awarding of this scholarship follows an October panel discussion, “Chocolate, Cars and Careers that took place at the facility. Presented by the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association (GNYADA), and attended by several leading women in the retail automotive business, the panel was designed to target women about to enter, or re-enter the workforce.
Lincoln Tech has been chosen as the official post-secondary automotive technician-training center by the GNYADA and students are eligible for Pell grants and student loans. Students undertaking the 13-month Master Certified Automotive Technology course must be high school graduates. The school, while not guaranteeing employment at the conclusion of the course, does place graduates in internships and assists them with placements.
