\n Dallas ISD and DART launch the High School Student Bus Maintenance Externship Program | Image by Dallas ISD News Hub\/press release <\/p>\n
Fourteen Dallas ISD high school seniors will spend the semester learning bus maintenance skills alongside professional mechanics through a new partnership between Dallas Independent School District and Dallas Area Rapid Transit.<\/p>\n
The High School Student Bus Maintenance Externship Program is being offered<\/a> through Dallas ISD\u2019s Automotive Technician Program of Study. The first-of-its-kind initiative is designed to give students supervised, hands-on experience while introducing them to careers in diesel and transit vehicle maintenance.<\/p>\n Students To Train Alongside DART Mechanics<\/p>\n The 14 participating seniors will be paired<\/a> with DART bus maintenance technicians throughout the semester.<\/p>\n Their training will include<\/a> multi-point vehicle inspections, engine fundamentals, and interior climate-system maintenance. Students will also have opportunities to develop technical and leadership skills while working in an industry setting.<\/p>\n The program gives students an opportunity to apply skills learned in the classroom to real-world maintenance work.<\/p>\n Program Aims To Build Career Pathways<\/p>\n DART officials said the partnership is intended to expand career opportunities for students while helping address a shortage of diesel maintenance mechanics.<\/p>\n \u201cDART recognizes just how important it is to support education in the region, and to cultivate the next generation of diesel maintenance mechanics,\u201d said Trenise Winters, DART chief operations officer. \u201cOur expansive fleet of vehicles and professional mechanics are available for Dallas ISD students to expand their experience.\u201d<\/p>\n Winters said the collaboration is intended to help prepare students for careers while addressing workforce needs in the diesel maintenance industry.<\/p>\n Oswaldo Alvarenga, Dallas ISD deputy chief of strategic initiatives, said<\/a> the partnership connects students with high-demand career opportunities.<\/p>\n \u201cOur students grow the most when they\u2019re in the real world solving real problems,\u201d Alvarenga said. \u201cFor us, partnering with DART is a meaningful way to support the next generation of skilled technicians while creating immediate, hands-on impact for our students in high-demand career pathways.\u201d<\/p>\n DART Calls Partnership an Investment in the Future<\/p>\n