John Cavataio, 17, loves driving to his favorite place, Drive One Academy in Roseville because that's one place he gets the freedom to be up close and personal with his passion.
"Pulling the motor out of that car with my other friend, rods, suspension, so there are multiple different aspects that we work on here," said Cavataio.
Thanks to the academy's free after-school program, hundreds of high school students like John learn how to build and repair cars.
"Kinda gives me the confidence to work on stuff myself," said Cavataio.
"We do some auto body, we do some wielding, we do fabrication, we do some machining, and we also do automotive design and clay modeling," said Paul Tregembo, Director of Drive One Academy.
Paul Tregembo runs the 16,000-square-foot tech center, and he says the entire facility operates like a professional garage.
"There are actual live vehicles, so what drives in, it's going to drive out, and we are going to repair whatever it was," said Tregembo.
Christian White, 13, a student at the program, loves that the whole program is practical and hands-on.
"Since you are one of the youngest in the program, how does it feel?" asked 7 Action News Reporter Faraz Javed.
"I like it because I can fit in tighter spaces because others can't," said Christina said.
Meanwhile, a few months into the program, 17-year-old Emily Seiler can replace the oil filter and brakes on her dad's car like a pro.
"When he knew I knew how to do it, he just kind of gets the filter and then says, Emily, this needs to be done," Emily said.
And even with the rising Electric Vehicle market, Paul says most skills apply to EVs, while specific ones are also being introduced within the course.
"Right now, we have a shortage in the next five years of 76,000 auto technicians in, so anything that they pick up from this they can take out and put to work they can utilize in a job, which is the end goal," said Tregembo.
When asked about placement opportunities after completing the course, Paul says he already has companies waiting to sign them up.
"If they aren't in the automotive industry, they've gone to college for a 4-year program that's usually engineering, or they've gone to the military," said Tregembo.
Since 2013, over 300 students have graduated from the program.
To learn more about the bi-weekly free after-school course, visit https://www.driveone.net/
