The Ottawa Township High School Automotive Vocational Education program recently secured a $16,500 matching donation from the OTHS Educational Foundation to help purchase a new Hunter Hawkeye Elite alignment machine, according to a press release from OTHS.

“This is what they’ll see when they actually enter the workforce,” OTHS Automotive Technology teacher John Hladovcak said. “There are different brands, but the Hunter elite system that we have is probably the most prevalent that’s out there in the real world.”

Students began using the new alignment machine in March, according to the release.

“Once [students] get through a couple of alignments, they start to gain confidence,” Hladovcak said. “I can put them on a particular alignment. I can walk away and typically they end up being able to do the alignment on their own.”

Hladovcak said about 60 students each year will have an opportunity to use the equipment in several different vocational education classes that OTHS offers.

“This kind of stuff attracts kids to the program, knowing that they got the right technology to learn from here,” he said. “I have top-of-the-line wheel balancers, tire machines, and now an alignment machine. There’s not a tool that we don’t have.”

Hladovcak said that having access to modern equipment helps students adapt to new technology in an industry that continues to evolve.

“My classroom is not traditional. They don’t have to sit and look at a book,” he said. “We are out in the shop. They come out here and they actually do it. Artificial intelligence has really changed the game in the way that we diagnose and work on cars. But that’s just the diagnosis. We still need kids and people to actually turn the wrenches.”