Morse High Students Support the Troops by Donating Repaired Vehicle to Local Charity, Operation Homefront
SAN DIEGO, April 13 -- "Excel Tech" students at Morse High School in San Diego are donating a car they repaired to Operation Homefront for a military family. The San Diego Area Chapter of Operation Homefront is a San Diego-based non-profit organization that provides support to families of deployed military personnel.
There will be a media open house today at Morse High School from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Media are invited to witness the students' donation of the repaired car to the military family, as well as tour the new, modern auto repair facility. Morse High is located at 6905 Skyline Drive in San Diego.
State Farm(R) donated the damaged 1999 Ford Contour to Morse High School's revamped auto collision vocational program called "Excel Tech", which is offered through the San Diego Regional Occupational Program (ROP) and provides students 16 years of age and older with vocational training in automotive repair. State Farm in partnership with area collision industry businesses developed "Excel Tech" to prepare students for a career in the high-tech world of automotive repair. The students are putting their new found skills to good use by donating the repaired vehicle to a local charity. "Excel Tech" is part of the "service learning" teaching method, which enriches learning by engaging students in meaningful service to their schools and communities.
"This donation is what service learning is all about," said Tom Howlett, State Farm Property Claims Trainer and acting President of the Advisory Board for Excel Tech at Morse H.S. "Cars today are high-tech, computerized machines. These young students have applied their new skills in a meaningful way and are now seeing how their hard work can make a positive impact in their community. The students' decision to donate the car to a military family through Operation Homefront is a terrific choice, especially in a military town like San Diego."
State Farm and local industry partners have restructured the vocational program at Morse High by providing new curriculum, newer tools for the students, modern vehicles that are technologically advanced, and the opportunity for teachers to receive updated training. The "Excel Tech" program was established to provide updated, modern training to students who wish to pursue a career in the automotive repair industry and to combat the shortage of qualified technicians in the United States. In the United States, there are currently 60,000 unfilled automotive technician positions due to a lack of qualified workers, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
"The Excel Tech program provides a real benefit to our students and to the community," said Rob Atterbury, San Diego City Schools' Director of School-to- Career. "Automobile technician careers are quality careers that require solid skills and comprehensive training. This program provides a quality career opportunity for these students."
Morse High's "Excel Tech" program is only one of two of these unique programs in the country. The program was implemented at Morse High School in the Spring of 2004. The other program was established at Swenson Arts and Technical High School of Philadelphia, Penn. in 2001. For more information about the "Excel Tech" program at Morse High School, visit the website at: http://sharepoint.sandiegostc.org/TigerPaw/default.aspx .
For more information about Operation Homefront visit their website at http://www.operationhomefront.net/ .
About State Farm
State Farm(R) insures more cars than any other insurer in North America and is the leading U.S. home insurer. State Farm's 17,000 agents and 69,000 employees serve nearly 73 million auto, fire, life and health policies in the United States and Canada. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company is the parent of the State Farm family of companies. State Farm is ranked No.19 on the Fortune 500 list of largest companies. For more information, please visit statefarm.com(R) or in Canada statefarm.ca(TM).