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Date: 2/4/2021
WESTFIELD – Students at Advantage Truck Group (ATG) through Westfield Technical Academy’s (WTA) co-op program have the opportunity to work on trucks up close and gain the experience of working in a real garage.
Riley Sullivan, a senior in WTA’s Automotive Technology shop and lone member of the co-op with ATG, said his job involves working on the various parts of each truck.
“I do everything from oil changes to engine work, sometimes some transmission work, I do brakes, basically whatever they tell me to do I do it,” he said.
As he continues to work on vehicles, Sullivan said he continues to love what he does even more.
“I started off by wanting to do Information Technology, but once I got into Auto Tech, I knew that I wanted to switch and go work on cars. I’ve always loved cars and when I started working on them, I loved them even more. Then when the idea came to work on diesel trucks, I didn’t know what I was getting into at all, and then I came here for a week and I loved it,” he said.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Sullivan said work has been slower at times, but his experience has not been impacted.
“It gets slow sometimes and over the summer I didn’t get to work as much as I would have liked, but there was nothing I could really do about that. I still got more experience than other kids in my shop did this summer and throughout this whole COVID thing,” he said.
Sullivan said his favorite part of working at ATG is working on engines.
“Whenever I get the opportunity to work on engines, I love that stuff. Whenever a guy is doing major engine work, I love hopping on that and just learning everything I possibly can and helping him out whenever he needs it. That’s what I’ve done the past few months, they’ve let me work on engines a lot more, which is awesome,” he said.
One part of Sullivan’s growth that stood out to ATG’s General Manager Chris Pentedemos is his confidence.
“When Riley came in, he was a little timid and didn’t really understand the industry or the people he is working with. I’ve seen him grow to become confident and reassured that this is the career path he wants and that he made the right decision,” he said.
Regardless of what career path a student may choose, Pentedemos said he wants to give them the experience of working in the real world.
“Our biggest point is even if the student is not going to carry on, we want to give them the experience of working in the real industry. He doesn’t come into a padded room and we teach him, he’s out there with the technicians on the floor, He’s out there working side by side with guys that have been here for 20 years,” he said.
Once he graduates in the spring, Sullivan said he wants to stay with ATG for as long as possible.