MONTICELLO — A local car dealership is partnering with a community college to offer apprenticeships.
Parkland College officials said the collaboration with Rick Ridings Automotive Group provides “hands-on learning opportunities” to students in its automotive technology and Ford ASSET (Automotive Student Service Education Training) programs.
“When we invest in the students, hopefully they return that investment back in us by sticking around,” said Louis VonHatten, service manager at Rick Ridings Chevy Buick. “It’s a very high-demand position, and if we can cultivate some young talent, that’s a benefit to us.”
He also said that mentoring students is “vastly rewarding.”
During the four-year program, apprentices attend full-time training and work part-time for the first two years, then move to working for the Monticello-based employer full-time, according to Parkland.
“By training in one of two automotive programs, apprentices develop technical and soft skills in addition to an associate in applied science degree and USDOL journeyworker certificate,” college officials said.
“Ridings has been working with Parkland for years through the Ford ASSET program,” VonHatten said.
“It’s already set up like an apprenticeship where students attend school for eight weeks and then they rotate out and have an eight-week work experience,” said Aimee Densmore, director of apprenticeship operations at Parkland. “So they do that over two years.”
According to Parkland, students in this competitive program participate in paid internships while also earning an associate degree in automotive service technology. They are then able to “enter the workforce as entry-level service technicians with certifications from Ford Motor Company or transfer earned credits toward a bachelor degree.”
In 2021, Rick Ridings Automotive Group acquired Chevy Buick and Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealerships and wanted to duplicate the success it had experienced through the Ford ASSET program, VonHatten said.
However, that particular program is specifically designed for the Ford brand, which led the company to work out an apprenticeship partnership through the college’s automotive technology program.
According to VonHatten, the new initiative began in the fall of 2024. One change this semester is that the automotive group has entered into a new partnership that will provide funding to support these efforts.
Rick Ridings Automotive Group will receive Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Incumbent Worker Training funding, administered by the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission, to help cover costs associated with training and upskilling, Parkland officials said.
“This (program) is part of them growing their own technicians,” Densmore said. “It’s really what Parkland is driving as the future of workforce development, because you can no longer buy talent.”
She added that having students put the skills they learn in class to work immediately helps them retain those skills, while also contributing to “employee loyalty” and providing mentorship opportunities.
Densmore also noted that apprenticeships are designed for individuals with minimal experience or none at all.
“The beauty is, you can put a student in at any point on the spectrum,” she said. “So, in this case, one of these students is a sophomore, and the other is a freshman. So they can go ahead and get credits for the education they’ve completed. They can get credit for the work hours they’ve completed towards the four-year apprenticeship, and it’ll reduce that time.”
So far, two students have graduated from the new apprenticeship program, and two are currently participating, VonHatten said.
