Most of us who drive remember our first car, either fondly or maybe with relief that it’s gone. For those whose vehicles are in decent shape—or not so decent shape—there is a second life available for them at SCTCC.
The Auto Body and Automotive Technician programs both accept consumer vehicles as donations (after assessment), which is a vital part of each program.
“Vehicle donations to the programs are very crucial for our students for learning,” explained Leanne Pearson, the Auto Body Lab Assistant. “It helps them get the technique down before they work on live customer cars. They learn removing and installing parts from fixing small damage that we put in the vehicle or if the vehicle has frame damage, so they make sure they know how to put everything back together.”
Auto Body doesn’t get many vehicle donations during a school year; one year they had four, the most they’d ever received. Some years they get none. This year, they’re starting the year off right with a donation from Heather Nulf, a 2023 SCTCC graduate.
Nulf’s first car, a red 2009 Ford Focus, had served her well for five years. But it had reached the end of its life, and she was ready to move on to a new car.
“I’ve beat it up. It’s gone through a couple of accidents. It’s seen its fair share of Minnesota ice – it’s definitely rusted out on the bottom. It went through one of the worst hailstorms St. Cloud has ever seen and it totaled the car,” smiled Nulf as she reminisced. “Someone keyed it – I have some haters out there. Unfortunate, but haters stay mad!” Nulf laughed.
Once she got a new car, she was a little lost at what to do with her old one since she’s not from the area. She knew a couple people who wanted to take it out in a field and drive it until it fell apart, but she thought she could do better than that.
Nulf remembered all the times that Pearson had helped her fill her tires and replace the caps on the Focus, and wondered if she could donate it so it could have another life. She reached out to her dad, who is the owner on the lease, and he loved the idea. Then she reached out to her contact at SCTCC, and it was set in motion.
When Nulf came in to drop off her paperwork, she was sporting SCTCC gear and beelined it for the Auto Body lab. Pearson’s face lit up when they saw each other and you could tell that they had spent more than a few times chatting with each other, and about more than just the missing caps on Nulf’s tires.
Even though she was a Marketing & Design student, Nulf had found her way to Auto Body to connect with Pearson while she was a student. Now she was back as an alumna, connecting and donating a car.
It's not often that alumni as recent and young donate vehicles to the College; most donations are from estates or middle-aged people. Nulf was especially excited to learn about the donation process and wanted to know how it would be used, which depends on the condition and cost. It will either become a training vehicle or restored and sold at an auction.
“We look at the vehicle and see how much damage is on it and what kind of problems it has, why the customer is donating it, and we evaluate how much it’s going to cost to fix; the cost comes out of the SkillsUSA club [if it will be auctioned]. Then we have an auction in house with the bidding starting off at what we put into the vehicle. If the bid goes up higher, those funds get put back into the Skills club,” clarified Pearson.
If Nulf’s Focus is too far gone, it will become a student training vehicle, “an organ donor” as she called it.
“We make sure the vehicle gets used through its whole life expectancy. We work on the outside of the vehicle, we get everything we need for Auto Body, and then we turn it over to Automotives, where they work on the engines, the brakes, look at the transmission, maybe take the transmission out,” Pearson said.
Nulf told Pearson that if the Focus made it to auction, to make sure to invite her. She has no plans on bidding on it, but she does want to see how it turns out.
“This truly makes me and my family happy. We're just really excited that the school is willing to take it take it off our hands and give it another life,” smiled Nulf. She dropped the keys into Pearson’s waiting hand, patted the hood, and took off toward her new car.