The need for cleanliness, attention to detail, working with specialized tools and developing an assortment of skills add up to appreciation for the work that people in the trades do every day.
That was among the findings of six students from Norfolk Catholic High School who are taking part in a new boot camp at Northeast Community College.
“These students are great learners,” said Dave Beaudette, an Auto Body instructor at Northeast Community College who taught students half of the days during the first week of an Auto and Diesel Boot Camp that the Archdiocese of Omaha sponsored.
Beaudette had the students last week during auto body for two of the four days, the first week of the camp, with Auto Tech and Diesel Tech weeks to follow.
“These students worked hard, and they learned a lot. They are serious about it,” Beaudette said.
Beaudette taught the last two days, with Tom Hoile, another Auto Body instructor, teaching the first two days.
Jayven Blevins, one of the Norfolk Catholic students who will be sophomores who are taking the boot camp, said the students learned how many steps there are to repairing a dent.
The students each made a small, raised hood from an aluminum sheet, then dented the hood, learned how to get the dent out, repair the damage, sand it and get it ready for painting, then added primer and three coats of paint to make it better. Finally, the finished painted pieces were baked.
Jayven said everything needs to be clean and it is important to always be looking for even a speck of dust when doing the work, especially around paint.
“What I learned most is about how much work it is to fix a dent. You have to have certain tools, you have to sand it and then put on the right number of coats. There’s a lot of things to do, but I think it was fun,” Jayven said.
Cooper O’Hare, another student, said attending the first week gave him appreciation for the work of auto body workers.
“They have a lot of work to do,” Cooper said. “I also learned how much work it takes just to fix a small dent.”
Luke Gollobit, another of the students, said the students enjoyed themselves during the first week, which was June 2-5. Each week of the booth camp is Monday to Thursday.
“I learned a lot about how much work and how many steps there are to repairing vehicles,” Luke said. “It was a lot more work than I expected.”
Ben Beller, another student, said he knew the basic idea of repairing a dent, but there were a lot more steps than he anticipated.
“There might be other ways to do it, but now I know how it’s done professionally,” Ben said. “I didn’t realize how much time went into it.”
Hunter Delanoit, another student, said he learned that it is harder work than probably most people realize.
“Coming into this, I didn’t think it would be too difficult to paint things,” Hunter said. “But I found out there is a lot of preparation and work to it.”
Kian Foecking, another student, said he learned about the multiple steps and all the time it takes.
“I learned (auto techs) usually are working on multiple jobs,” Kian said. “They will paint one, set a timer and then work on other jobs while they are waiting.”
Anita Harkins-Mehsling, associate superintendent of Leadership Development for the Archdiocese of Omaha, said the first auto and diesel boot camp that the archdiocese partnered and sponsored was with Metro Community College in Omaha in the summer of 2024.
Bob Danehauer, formerly of the Omaha Public Schools whom Harkins-Mehsling had known for years, approached her with the idea of the boot camps. That first camp was a great success.
“At that time, I stated to Bob that my dream would be to expand the bootcamp to our rural community Catholic schools as a part of workforce development. A lot of our students help their families with farming, etc. and this type of knowledge/skill could lead them to staying and growing the family farm,” Harkins-Mehsling said.
“That one bootcamp in 2024 has grown to four bootcamps at four different locations this year. The archdiocese has also expanded it into the trades as well with construction,” she said.
Scott Broady at Metro introduced Harkins-Mehsling and Danenhauer to Brad Ranslem, dean of Applied Technology at Northeast, and the boot camps were expanded to Northeast this year.
“Our goal is to get to the point like Omaha and have a waiting list to get in. It is a much-needed skill, and we know there are students who might just like it enough to go to school for that trade/industry knowledge,” Harkins-Mehsling said.
The students do not pay for the boot camp, with the archdiocese using federal ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) funding as well as generous gifts from donors.
“Our goal is to hopefully reach a level of donations that we can continue this every year for many years,” she said.
Archdiocese Boot Camp
Taking part in a new Auto and Diesel Boot Camp this summer at Northeast Community College is (from left) Luke Gollobit, Ben Beller, Kian Foecking, Instructor Dave Beaudette, Cooper O’Hare, Hunter Delanoit and Jayven Blevins. (Northeast Community College)
Instructor Example
Dave Beaudette, Northeast Auto Body instructor, made what looks like a smaller hood from an aluminum sheet. Students in an automotive body class during the first week of a boot camp learned how to bend the medal into the shape of a hood, then dented it, fixed the dent and painted the hood with primer and several coats of paint, just like a body shop, to learn more about a possible career in automotive body. (Northeast Community College)
