News

Six students were awarded scholarships by the Ford Motor Company in a ceremony at the Eicher Technical Center in Milford on Thursday. Representatives from local dealerships that sponsor the students attended, as well as several representatives from Ford corporate in Kansas City and Detroit.

“You are in demand,” said Tom George, market representation manager at Ford in Kansas City. “Ford Motor Company is a 123-year-old company, and we don’t make it another 123 years without technicians or your support.”

George said Ford gives out 40 $5,000 scholarships each year.

“I think the biggest roadblock you run into is tuition,” said George. “This helps attract students and keep their mind on school, and it does help the final outcome of quality of the education.”

Four of the students awarded are part of the Ford Automotive Student Service Education Training program, which gives students hands-on training with the latest diagnostic tools to prepare them for the workforce. Students in the program are sponsored by local dealerships where they rotate between classroom learning and paid internships during the course of the two-year program.

“What’s really neat is that students have a job on day one,” said Mark Berggren, Ford ASSET program chair. “That co-op is like an internship. Students really enjoy that they get paid, and I like to consider it as an earn-while-you-learn type of thing.”

Berggren is one of the instructors for the ASSET program. He says that students really buy into the program, especially thanks to close relationships with Ford and local dealerships.

When students buy into the program, they buy into their local community.

“It’s huge for me because that’s what we do, right? The more we can do with the community and our dealerships, I think it’s great.” Berggren said.

Damon Bennett
Activities Information Director
402-437-2077
dbennett@southeast.edu