McNeil High School program receives donation from local business

McNeil High School gets generous donation

The McNeil High School Auto Tech program received a generous donation from a local NAPA auto parts shop. FOX 7 Austin's Jessica Rivera has the story.

AUSTIN, Texas - McNeil High School receives a generous donation from a local business for one of its programs.

The backstory:

The Auto Tech program at McNeil High School gives students the chance to learn the ins and outs of repairing cars.

"I thought it was cool that they did and I've always been really interested in cars, and I have always been interested in just fixing things and taking them apart and just figuring out how they work,' says Aubriana Martinez, a junior at McNeil High school.

The program also teaches students important skills that will help them become hirable employees.

"It's really helping me on my social skills and like communicating my needs with everyone in the shop. And it's making me kind of have the mindset to like actually work in an environment like that," says Martinez.

Ryan Arnold, head automotive teacher at McNeil High School, says while they encourage students to further pursue a degree or certification in the automotive industry, some students use the program to learn skills that can help them in similar fields.

"I think the automotive has definitely, you know, enhanced my knowledge mechanically-wise and has helped me, you now, kind of see what I like and ultimately, I think aircraft maintenance in the marines is definitely what I want to do," says Arturo Bernard, a senior at McNeil High School.

By the numbers:

As you can imagine, automotive is an expensive program to run. 

The school provides the proper attire students need to wear for the class, but parts and supplies can add up.

"Now while the district does absolutely everything, they can to help us, we can always utilize more, right? Scan tools, $10,000 lifts, depending on five to $50,000, what we need," says Arnold.

Thankfully, the local NAPA Auto Parts shop was able to donate $80,000 worth of supplies to help advance the students experience.

What they're saying:

"We're going to use it to help better the program. We're actually using it today. For oil changes and such with the staff and that they were actually paying for the oil. We're not just giving it away for free. But those funds that we make as fundraisers will help us for like projects that we're doing in the future for competitions and those types of things," says Arnold.

What's next:

Because the donation was larger than what McNeil’s program can use alone, Arnold said they plan to share some of the products with neighboring district schools so other students in the area can also benefit.