Every Tuesday morning, Junee High School turns the GasWorks Garage into a classroom.
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The mechanical mentoring program has been running for the past 18 months, with a new group of four students taking the course each term.
This is the first time it has been a group of girls.
“There’s a waiting list now, and the girls have been asking for a long time when it would be there turn,” said teacher Rhonda Heffernan.
Run by retired mechanics Joe Belling and Jeff Windsor, the program provides everything from basic maintenance to advanced repairs.
“It’s good to give them that confidence that when they open the bonnet they know what they’re looking at, and it has a ripple effect,” said Ms Heffernan.
“They get interested here and it takes them on to potential careers.”
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“These students will eventually own their own vehicles and they need that knowledge to be able to maintain it,” said Mr Belling.
“A lot of people think once you buy the car that’s it, but it’s not. Some people don’t even know how to change a tire.
“You can watch someone do it, you can have someone tell you about it all day long, but the only way to learn is to do it yourself.”
The students however have much higher ambitions.
“I want to be able to understand how the break system works,” said 14-year-old Morgan Fitzgerald.
“I’m interested in putting a motor together by hand,” said 15-year-old Zoe Collins.
“I’d like to work on a project, maybe build a billycart from scratch,” said 15-year-old Grace McGrath.
“It’s just really important to me that I can take care of my own car on my own,” said 14-year-old Noni McLennan.
Over the next few weeks, the students will go from changing tires and checking fluids, to reassembling engines and brake systems.
