New York's Center for Automotive Education & Traning Celebrates 2007 Graduating Class
New York, NY - (May, 2007): Over 250 friends and family of the 2007 graduating class of young entry level technicians from the Lincoln Technical Institute (LTI) at the Center for Automotive Education & Training joined staff, faculty, automotive executives, and area automobile dealers to celebrate their achievement tonight.
Most of the 59 graduating students have already been placed at dealerships throughout the area.
"These young people are about to begin exciting and rewarding careers in the automotive industry," said Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association Chairman, Sheila Meyer.
"The cars we drive have some of the most technically advanced electrical systems found anywhere, and that means that the men and women who service and repair these vehicles need to be highly prepared. It doesn't hurt to know that if they work hard and keep training and re-training that there are technicians in our area today making more than $100,000 a year," continued Meyer.
The graduation ceremony is also a celebration of a pioneering school-to-work initiative developed by the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association. The Association has worked for more than a decade to develop a coherent and sustainable training environment for greater New York's young men and women interested in working in the auto industry. The result is a state-the-art $28 million project, a first-of-its-kind to be built on this scale by an automobile association.
Lincoln Technical Institute (LTI), a national leader in automotive education for more than 60 years is housed in just over half of the 90, 000 sq. ft. Center, LTI's impressive new campus which includes new, industry-standard equipment, state-of-the-art training areas and auto bays, and shop-side and web-tech classrooms that offer a real-time interactive learning experience.
In addition to LTI's technician training program, GNYADA's Center for Automotive Education & Training also accommodates GNYADA's own broad range of education and training programs and courses, which currently consists of nearly 100 seminars and workshops held each year for local dealership personnel. The center currently offers more than 30 different classifications for job training in areas such as service, management, sales, billing and bookkeeping. The Center will serve as a training ground for individuals preparing for careers in the industry as well as a continuing education resource for dealership and automaker personnel.
The Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association, a not-for-profit organization represents 650 franchised automobile dealerships in the metro area of New York, which sell more than 800,000 cars each year. Its members generate over $1 billion for state and local governments and employ approximately 52,000 individuals (directly and indirectly) in metro New York.
Lincoln Technical Institute is a leading and diversified for-profit provider of career-oriented post-secondary education. It offers recent high school graduates and working adults degree and diploma programs in four principal areas of study: automotive technology, skilled trades, business, and information technology and health sciences. Lincoln has provided the workforce with skilled technicians since its inception in 1946. Lincoln currently operates 35 campuses in 16 states.
