Auto class gives students taste of the 'real world'

Steve Melkioty runs a tight auto shop, giving oil changes, fixing faulty engines and rotating tires.

The only difference is his mechanics aren't professionals, they are Bigfork High School students and most of the work is down with low cost to those in need.

The goal of the BHS auto mechanics classes is to give students practical job experience that will help them in real employment situations.

"My job is to teach students what employers want," Melkioty said. "They keep a task sheet of their hours and their pay check is their grade."

Melkioty, who has turned a wrench as a mechanic for 30 years, has been in his position at BHS for four years. During that time, the students have done roughly $12,000 to $28,000 worth of work a year, depending on the number of students in his advanced class, which requires permission to enter.

The shop has regular customers who come in for maintenance work. The labor is free, but most people have to pay for parts.

The students have a constant supply of student, staff and community vehicles to work on, but they also receive donated vehicles they fix up and raffle off, give away or sell.

The class just finished a recent raffle where the winner, Bob Ludwig from the Bigfork School District Office, had his choice between a 1993 Ford Ranger or a 1993 Cadillac Sedan DeVille. He picked the truck.

The funds from the raffle will be used for student trips and the shop's fund to do free work for people who can't afford it with a portion donated to the Bigfork Food Bank.

Though the raffle didn't raise as much as Melkioty hoped, the students and community will still benefit from the fundraiser, he said.

This is also true when Melkioty sells a vehicle. He marks it down to half of what it is worth in Kelly Blue Book, which estimates market values for vehicles.

The money goes back to the shop for its benevolence work, including its ability to give a car away for free to someone in need. Melkioty has criteria he holds people to in order to qualify for a vehicle.

"If you don't have a job, you don't get a car," Melkioty said. "If there is any misconduct at all, you don't get a car. Generally speaking, we always give to people in need."

At the time the cars are given away, they could have up to 10 years left in them. Melkioty and his students repair what needs to be fixed at the time, but it will be up to the new owner to maintain the vehicle.

The shop just got another donated car, a 1989 Audi 100 from a Kalispell man. It might be the next vehicle available.

Though the shop accepts donations, Melkioty usually won't take larger vehicles with high gas mileage that need more than $1,000-worth of parts. These vehicles are harder to give away or sell.

The advanced class spends no time in the classroom – all of it is spent working on real vehicles in the shop. The class does almost everything, except machining work which Melkioty said is too expensive to do wrong.

His advanced class has six students right now, but he also has 40 students in his two beginning classes who, he says, have had the best grades in his experience at BHS so far. The beginning class is half book and half shop. This year's class is already doing minor work like tires and oil changes.

"It's a pretty good group of kids," Melkioty said.

The program has a solid track record for students continuing mechanic work at the next level. Three of Melkioty's students who graduated last year are now in Montana State University's diesel technology program and one is at the University of Montana College of Technology studying welding and fabrication.

Several of his students this year plan to follow suit.

Senior Patrick Wood, who is in his second year in the advanced class, hopes to enter a diesel technology program at the University of Montana.

"I've always liked to work on cars," Wood said.

Senior Colton Hart, who as been in the BHS auto mechanics classes for two years, has had a similar interest in cars. He plans to apply to the College of Technology at Montana State University-Great Falls

"It's what I'm doing for the rest of my life," Hart said. "A lot of my family has been in the business."

He said he enjoys work that challenges him, like replacing the valves on his own vehicle.

Melkioty said it's becoming rare for high schools to have an auto mechanics program.

"I think less than a dozen schools in Montana have auto mechanic classes," Melkioty said. "It's good that [BHS] allows that tradition to continue."