Follow the winding road through the campus of Samuel Morse High School in San Diego and the pot of gold at the end is Tiger Paw Auto Body - a fully functioning collision repair shop designed to train new technicians for the auto body industry. 

Late model cars are used for instruction at Tiger Paw Auto Body, unlike most training programs that rely on old junkers.

Michael Lawrence (l) works with Andrew Milligan (r), students at Morse High School, on buffing the trunk of this late model Nissan.

A joint effort between State Farm Insurance, the San Diego City Schools, and volunteers from the auto repair industry, this innovative program provides hands-on instruction on vehicles with new technology to prepare students for entry into the collision repair business.

Two main goals of the program are to give students experience with new technology and to upgrade the image of the auto body profession.

State Farm's commitment

State Farm, along with industry partners, provides late model cars, materials, curriculum assistance, and other donations needed to operate a successful program. The company sees adequate education as a serious problem facing the collision repair industry and has created the Excel Tech program to create more interest among students to enter the auto body repair field.

Most secondary education auto body programs teach and practice on old cars. With the technology of auto manufacturing advancing so rapidly, students leave these programs unprepared to work on today's complex vehicles. They often end up underpaid and discouraged, perhaps leaving the profession altogether. The modern facility and newer model cars more realistically portray what students can expect to find in the real world of collision repair.

The program also seeks to change the image of an auto body career to reflect the high technical demands and education needed to repair vehicles with such complicated technology. To this end, students take traditional courses in computer science, English, math, physics and chemistry, to name a few, and then learn to apply the book knowledge to operations in the shop.

Dramatic shortage of technicians

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there are over 60,000 automobile technician positions currently unfilled in the United States due to a lack of qualified workers. If this shortage continues, rising wages for adequately trained auto body technicians may drive up the cost of car repair for Americans.

"Cars today are high tech. Automobile technicians need math and computer skills along with training on modern, technology-rich cars in order to be prepared for jobs in today's auto repair shops. State Farm is proud to help Morse High School provide a quality program for its students," explained Tom Howlett, State Farm property claims trainer and acting president of the Advisory Board for Excel Tech at Morse High School. "I have never seen a vocational auto body program that used vehicles that were less than a decade old. How can graduates compete with such a lack of hands-on experience with modern methods of repair?"

Second Excel Tech program

Morse is the second in State Farm's Excel Tech Program, which was established in 2001 at Swenson Arts and Technical School in Philadelphia, Pennsyl-vania. Excel Tech programs are designed to modernize auto technician programs, truly preparing students for careers in collision repair.

"This program is providing a real benefit to our student body and providing a quality career opportunity for some students. Automobile technician jobs today are quality careers that require solid skills and comprehensive training. State Farm has been a great partner in making this possible for our students," stated Rob Atterbury, San Diego Schools director of Schools-to-Career.