The inaugural class of East Hampton High School’s automotive program, run in partnership with the Board of Cooperative Educational Services, graduated in a ceremony at the school’s transportation depot on Springs-Fireplace Road Friday afternoon, marking a proud milestone for the district as well as the 16 graduates and their families.
“Today is a milestone,” the high school principal, Sara Smith, said during the ceremony, “We are here to recognize and celebrate you, the very first graduating class of the East Hampton BOCES automotive program,” said Sara Smith, the high school principal. “You will always be the inaugural group, the first to take on this new adventure.”
The program was first offered to students in 2023, but the work to implement it began nearly a decade earlier during the planning for the transportation depot. The district broke ground on the depot in 2021 and opened in 2023, just in time for this year’s seniors to begin the program.
Speaking after the ceremony, Ms. Smith noted how important it is for the high school to celebrate the graduating automotive students, eight in the two-year program and eight in the one-year program. “It’s just a way to honor all of our different programs and all of our different students,” she said. “And it’s the equivalent of, you know, honoring the National Honor Society and we have our science research. To honor our automotive students in this way I hope it communicates how much we value what they do.”
John Dunning is one of the seniors who completed the two-year program, and he was asked to speak at the ceremony on behalf of his fellow students. “Since I was 8 years old, working on engines was something I loved,” he said. He had previously taken the small engine class offered at East Hampton High School, but students in that class did not work on vehicles.
“When Ms. Smith informed me of the new automotive program, I was ecstatic,” he continued, “to think that my love of cars would actually become a part of a class was very exciting.” John will study aviation at Eastern Kentucky University, nothing new to him, as he already has his pilot’s license.
The transportation depot itself is a 10,800-square-foot facility with enough room for a fleet of 40 school buses, but the garage is where the magic happens for the automotive program. Students in the first year of the program spend three school periods at the shop in the mornings, and the second-year students spend three periods there in the afternoons.
“Coming to school each day, knowing I only had to make it until sixth period, made the beginning of the day fly by,” John said. “It gave me a reason to look forward to coming to school.”
Ms. Smith opened the ceremony by remarking on the mammoth task it was to put the program together. “Today is truly the definition of the term ‘it takes a village,’ “ she said, giving thanks to the school board, administration, BOCES partners, custodial staff, and even culinary students who had helped out by baking car-shaped cookies.
Both John and Ms. Smith acknowledged the program’s teachers, Tedd Page and Peter Fletcher. Before handing out the certificate to the graduates, Mr. Page also gave some short remarks. The eight seniors graduating from the two-year program were the first students and he thanked them for their patience in the beginning.
“The last two years, I’ve been essentially building this plane as I’m flying it,” he said, “and I must say, the caliber of my students, both year one and year two, you guys have made this transition very easy for me.” He said it was rewarding watching the students’ progress.
“Even though I’m aware not all of my students are going to do automotive or go into the field,” he said, “I have no doubt that you have gained knowledge in the skill set that will help you, no matter what you choose to do in life.”
Mr. Page and Mr. Fletcher presented the graduates with their certificates, and each student also received their very own wrench.
Speaking after the ceremony, the school board president J.P. Foster thanked the community for supporting the program and the building of the transportation depot, and he thanked the former superintendent, Rich Burns, “who was instrumental” in making it all happen.
“This is one of the main reasons I ran,” Mr. Foster said after the ceremony, “to bring vocational education to East Hampton again. We had it years ago. This was bringing it back, and I think that we did it in a big way.”
Indeed, during her opening remarks Ms. Smith said that in the little time the program has existed it has already “provided genuine service to the community.”
“You inspected, repaired, and maintained the vehicles of your own teachers and school staff,” she said, “an extraordinary and new level of teacher-student trust.”
To that point, John spoke about how effective it was being out of the classroom and doing hands-on work. The garage as a classroom allowed him to have actual experience doing the things he loves, in an untraditional space.
“I love how every challenge pushed me to learn more and how every success made me feel proud of what I could accomplish,” he said.