Collision Repair & Refinishing
Hands-On Experience
The Collision Repair & Refinishing program provides students
with hands-on experience in all the various aspects of the auto collision and repair trade. Restoration, painting, preparation, frame straightening, estimating, color mixing, and welding are practiced in the shop.
Curriculum
The Collision Repair and Refinishing (AKA Auto Body) program focuses on the repair of automobiles - but other surfaces are also incorporated as well. Primarily, students are exposed to comprehensive training in the repair of surfaces. They begin with intensive safety training, then gain experience in the safe and proper use of both hand and pneumatic tools as they perform major and minor repairs of panels using modern materials. Students weld, cut, prepare, and refinish on a variety of projects, many on vehicles owned by customers from the community. The program is Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) certified through the National Automotive Technician Education Foundation (NATEF).
We've implemented a new industry-standard iCar curriculum, which follows the student through their career.
Projects
FCTS, as the regional vocational high school of Franklin County, does so more than teach in a lab classroom and simulation environment. Students gain experience by assisting with FCTS facility projects, along with occasional projects for municipal and non-profit groups. Real world projects truly provide the students with an opportunity to apply what they have learned. Our students thrive on authentic work! You can demonstrate and practice a skill, but there is nothing like using those skills for real, under the direction of your instructor who now acts as your supervisor.
Collision Repair & Refinishing Customer Work: Trade programs have large shops filled with the same tools and technologies used by those men and women working in the trades. As a true extension of the classroom, authentic automotive projects are critically important to the learning environment. Occasional projects from municipal and non-profit groups offer hands-on learning to the students. Real-world projects truly provide the students with an opportunity to apply what they have learned. Our students thrive on authentic work! Requests for FCTS work must provide educational value to the students and must align with the curriculum. Please submit your request using the "Work Request" form found in the "Community" section of this website.
Coop Opportunities
Franklin County Technical School offers students cooperative educational opportunities during their senior year under the direction of the cooperative education coordinator. In addition, many shops provide field-site training opportunities that augment skills acquisition. To further the education process, maintenance projects inside the school and community-based projects enhance both the related and hands-on skills needed in the various trade areas.