Cordis was a natural fit for the automotive courses, having worked in the school\u2019s maintenance department and served as part of the transportation team, as well as having a passion for cars and lots of automotive know-how. Illig, who had known him for several years, asked if he\u2019d be interested in the job and got a resounding affirmative.<\/p>\n
Cordis attained his Class 4 teaching license, which is based on life experiences. He loves to build hot rods, and he likes to build them from the ground up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve built rigs for my kids,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cordis\u2019s personal \u201ctoy\u201d is a bright orange Chevy pickup. Also a fan of restoring vintage cars, he has a \u201cbeautiful\u201d DKW \u2013 a car with two-stroke engine that was a precursor to Audis.<\/p>\n
Cordis clearly enjoys working beside students and sharing his enthusiasm for all-things automotive. \u201cI just work with them all day \u2013 it\u2019s the best time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLarry\u2019s the biggest part of this program, honestly,\u201d Illig said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t go without him.\u201d He added that the students \u201care very lucky to have him.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also credits Cooksley with being the \u201cbig picture guy, the thinker.\u201d And he says they\u2019re fortunate to have Henricksen from Don Aadsen involved in their program.<\/p>\n
Hybrid training helps build career skills<\/strong><\/p>\n Don Aadsen Ford’s partnership with Boys and Girls Club and the Charter Academy allows the students to participate in the Ford Automotive Career Exploration Program (ACE), which provides access to introductory auto technician coursework aligned with industry standards, according to a press release from Cooksley.<\/p>\n With Cordis giving students hands-on experience in the shop and devoting class time to ACE, they\u2019ll go through modules on automotive maintenance and repair, advanced mechanical systems, auto body techniques, shop safety and tool use, and professional workplace expectations.<\/p>\n ACE provides steppingstones to further technical education and careers in automotive service. If a student is interested, the ACE credits can transfer to the Ford ASSET program, which is geared toward training automotive technicians. Participants are sponsored by a local Ford dealer.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a hybrid model,\u201d Cooksley explained. \u201cYou go to school for eight weeks and then come back to work at dealership for eight weeks, and repeat.\u201d<\/p>\n With the ASSET program, in two years a student is done. It\u2019s strictly technical, so it takes less time, and a person emerges from the program knowledgeable and able to work in a professional shop and make more money.<\/p>\n \u201cThis partnership is the start of something we have dreamed of for years,\u201d Henricksen said. \u201cIt gives local young people a good career with the opportunity to stay here in Montana.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur hope is a couple of kids come out of this who say \u2018Hey, I really like this,\u2019\u201d Cooksley said.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/strong> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" … the students to participate in the Ford Automotive<\/span> Career Exploration Program (ACE), which … ll go through modules on automotive<\/span> maintenance and repair, advanced mechanical … which is geared toward training automotive<\/span> technicians. Participants are sponsored by …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137400\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new7.shop\/zerocostfreehost\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a> Instructor Larry Cordis guides RHS students through group and individual mechanical projects. Here, he’s advising Shay Wall, Denzel Baltz, Ryan Kendall and Scott Cameron as they work on piston rings. (Berl Tiskus\/Leader)
<\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/a> Ronan Charter School director Josh Illig and student Troy Pierce discuss a van’s issue \u2013 the interior light won’t turn off when the vehicle is parked. (Berl Tiskus\/Leader)
<\/span> <\/span> <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n