NEWS & EVENTS

THE CHALLENGE At 18 years old and a senior in high school, Tanea Winters took advantage of every opportunity to get ahead in her career path. As she attended classes at the Hammond Area Career Center studying collision repair, she ear ...   Read More »

THE CHALLENGE
At 18 years old and a senior in high school, Tanea Winters took advantage of every opportunity to get ahead in her career path. As she attended classes at the Hammond Area Career Center studying collision repair, she earned several certifications including I-Car and ASE (Automotive Service Excellence). Winters enjoyed learning all she could about collision repair and knew she was pursuing a career she was passionate about, “I chose collision repair as my career choice because I love to paint cars and I like to see a really damaged car come to me and then I get the opportunity to make it new.”

THE SOLUTION
For the 2018-19 school year, Winters was in the Jobs for America’s Graduates (JAG) class at Calumet New Tech High School. In class, her JAG Specialist, Ms. Johnson, told Winters about WorkOne’s Work Experience (WEX) Program that would provide her with experience in an auto body garage. “Ms. Johnson explained that the purpose of the program was to assist students with learning about the workforce and work ethics.”
Shortly after learning about the program, Winters started a WEX at Tom and Ed’s Autobody in Merrillville. Winters spent 200 hours at the shop for the duration of the program where she learned more about the day-to-day work in an auto body garage, “The work experience allowed me to prepare for the real working world and learn how to use a written timesheet to turn in every week for a paycheck.”

THE OUTCOME
Winters was concerned that she would have a hard time finding a shop that would hire a young female in a male dominated career and industry. After going through a WEX, she felt more confident knowing she now had shop experience to add to her resume.
“My goal was to learn more so that I would be a few steps ahead for college. I plan to attend the Universal Technical Institute in Houston, Texas for collision repair, says Winters, “I learned a lot more working in a real shop and feel that I would get noticed more with the experience on my resume.”

9/2019

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