Student Spotlight: High-end afterschool jobs

MARCH 9, 2020 | COLLEGE NEWS

Pinellas Technical College student Paul Richstein is excelling in the
Dimmitt Automotive Group apprenticeship at Dimmitt Rolls Royce in St. Pete.

Working on high-end auto brands such as Rolls Royce and Jaguar are not your typical afterschool jobs. But through the Automotive Service Technology program at Pinellas Technical College (PTC), students Paul Richstein and Shawn Deboor can do just that as they have earned apprenticeships with local Dimmitt dealerships.

"As students start testing well for certain things, they become eligible to work in dealership environments," explained Brian Johnson, instructor of the Automotive Service program at the St. Petersburg campus.

He added that PTC does try to place everyone in a dealership, yet Deboor and Richstein, both advanced students, were excelling through the program.

"One of the dealerships that we work with, which is Dimmitt Automotive Group, was inquiring about whether we have some students that were advancing rapidly," Johnson said. "And we told them, 'Yes, we do.'"

Johnson said Richstein went to Dimmitt Rolls Royce in St. Pete and tried out his skills on the Cadillac side for three months, with excellent results.

"He passed their test on the Cadillac side and progressed over to Rolls Royce," Johnson said.

Deboor was hired for his apprenticeship by Dimmitt Jaguar Land Rover in Clearwater even though he, like Richstein, is still attending PTC. Johnson explained it is no easy task to be placed in an apprenticeship working on high-end luxury autos.

"You have to have a degree of professionalism," he said, "to be able to handle working on very expensive cars."

Shawn Deboor makes servicing high-end vehicles look easy at his
Dimmitt Jaguar Land Rover apprenticeship in Clearwater.

For Deboor, it was his love of cars that drew him to the PTC automotive program.

"I spent eight years cooking, doing management, opening stores, training people, hiring, firing," he said. "And the last job I had just opened up my eyes -- I didn't want to do that for the rest of my life. I've always had a passion for cars, the way they looked, the way they worked...how they run, everything that goes into them."

Deboor, 26, did six months of lube tech work at Mazda -- primarily oil changes -- when Johnson approached him with the apprenticeship with Jaguar. After five weeks at the luxury brand dealership, he found himself doing extremely skilled work such as pulling and installing motors and dashboards.

"I pretty much do everything they throw at me," Deboor said. "I do new car inspections, used car inspections, warranty work. And then I have my side stuff; I do really big jobs like engine replacement."

Deboor, who is due to graduate in December, still attends classes yet puts in a good week's work with Jaguar.

"Now that I got enrolled in the on-the-job training program, I'm here about 45 hours a week, and I'm at school about 20 hours a week," he stated.

Johnson noted that it takes several years to go from apprentice to the master level within the Rolls Royce and Jaguar dealerships. He and other PTC instructors will go to the dealerships themselves to talk to the mechanics there directly and see how well the apprenticed students are progressing.

Of course, the instructors can continue to offer counseling to the apprentice students.

"I've been fixing cars for 30 years," Johnson said, "and it's good to be able to finally pass it down. It's good to see students that really want to be a part of it."

If you'd like to be featured in a student spotlight, please call Lyn Johnson in the Office of Workforce Innovation at 727-893-2500 ext. 2655.