A SpongeBob SquarePants-themed pedal car and months of work paid off for Northern Westmoreland Career and Technology Center students — not only for a recent competition, but also for their future careers.
Students in the school’s Auto Body Collision Repair and Refinishing Technology program placed first in the 65th World of Wheels Car Show’s pedal car competition. It was held Jan. 23 to 25 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Downtown Pittsburgh.
“They do everything: the body work, assemble it, airbrush, all the different modifications,” said instructor Jim Salem. “It teaches them everything from repair to assembly to paint.”
As explained by student Heavenli Hall, the project required removing the pedal car’s rivets, then welding them together, followed by sanding, painting and airbrushing.
SpongeBob-specific touches included hand-painted cartoon flowers on the car, a captain’s helm as the steering wheel and green carpeting on the interior. Multimedia students at NWCTC created stickers that the auto body class added to the car.
The idea to do a SpongeBob-themed pedal car came from a class vote, said student Rachel Martz.
Nolan Lee, a junior at Kiski Area, said working on the pedal car was rewarding.
“It takes patience to put things together and take things apart without destroying it,” he said.
A career in the auto body field remains in-demand, Salem said.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, overall employment of automotive body and glass repairers is projected to grow 2% from 2024 to 2034. About 16,000 openings for automotive body and glass repairers are projected each year, on average, over the decade.
“The days of the toothless guy sanding a car are over,” Salem said. “It’s more modern and cleaner, the technology has improved. It’s a very good trade.”
Forty-two students are in the auto body program this semester, Salem said.
“We’re making it more popular,” he said. “Everybody wants to modify their cars. The field is desperate. It’s paying six figures now, after a few years of training. This gets them started.”
In addition to Hall, Martz and Lee, students that contributed to the winning pedal car team include Antonio Messina, Alex Simoni, Hailey Klingensmith, Brandon Grimm, Max Luzader and Samuel Shoop.
Hall, a senior at Kiski Area, said her three years spent at the auto body class have been beneficial for her career prospects. She plans to attend Rosedale Technical College and study diesel mechanics there.
“It helped me get ready for hands-on working, and working among a group of boys,” she said.
“It’s hard sometimes, but you’ve got to be better than them, and it gets easier.”
According to the Women’s Industry Network, 4.8% of auto body technicians in the U.S. are women.
“You have to show them your worth,” said Martz, who also plans to work in an auto body shop upon her graduation from Kiski Area this spring.
Salem predicts future enrollment growth within the program.
“We have to get them into the workforce,” Salem said. “It’s in high demand. It is a very skilled trade specialty and it is not easy to learn.
“Hopefully, with a growing program and more students, we can fill the collision shops back up.”