This past Friday, students from the Porter County Career and Technical Center headed to the Chicago Auto Show. Three buses full of students, teachers, and friends of the Career Center joined the trip to see what the auto show had to offer. The duration of the field trip was filled with exciting action and began as all good trips should, with pizza! After everyone had their fill of the cheesy goodness, the busses were loaded with students from all the classes at the Career Center along with two army representatives who are frequent visitors to the Career Center. Once everyone was on board, the convoy set out and braced for the cold weather as we began our journey to McCormick Place.
The bus ride took about an hour and a half and thanks to our skilled bus drivers, we got there with no problems. The buses unloaded right in front of the entrance and everyone on the trip scuttled inside to the vast enclosure of McCormick Place. Once inside students walked around and mapped the place to see where the cars, trucks, and food places of their preference were located. After getting a good idea of where they wanted to start out, the students grabbed their tickets and entered the auto show.
Once inside, I caught up with students from the auto class who were checking out the old style Camaros.
"There is nothing more beautiful than a classic Camaro," said Jake Nix, a senior from Kouts Auto Class.
While Jake was interested in the older style cars, the auto show provided a wide range of vehicles fixed to meet anyone's preference. Visitors even had the opportunity to test drive some of the vehicles such as the Challenger, Jeep, and Camry. Marketing teacher Mrs. Jennifer Gaulin, did just that with her husband and daughter. She said she had a great time and fell in love with car they got to ride in.
If you aren't really into cars, there are plenty of other things available at the Auto Show. Students participated in games sponsored by different radio stations and had the opportunity to test out different car simulators. You could also sink your teeth into a Chicago Style hot dog along with a variety of other foods such as pizza, ice cream, and churros. Once you had your fill of food, you could shop around and purchase t-shirts, flags, and other car paraphernalia.
While the primary purpose of this trip was to be an enjoyable bonding time for the students at the Career Center, it was also educational.
Jacob Knoblock, a student from the Video Productions class, could be found recording live feed of the auto show and conducting interviews to take back to the Career Center and share. Students from the marketing class could compare the different prices of cars and compare the international production standards among foreign cars. The auto class students were definitely in their homeland and could observe different motors and production processes of vehicles. There was a little bit of everything the Career Center teaches that could be experienced at the Auto Show.
Overall, it was an enjoyable time for everyone. One of the best feelings in the world is looking around you and seeing people from all over the world happy, socializing and knowing that you are a part of it. The Career Center does a great job of bringing this world into perspective and Mr. Jon Groth, the Principal, is always looking for opportunities to provide students and friends of the Career Center an opportunity to get involved in a variety of things. This was a great experience and automatically shows how the Career Center is always looking for ways to bring students together to enjoy the little things in life.
