Sparking Automotive Passion

The sound of engines, excitement, and chatter among the students filled the parking lot at Salem Church Middle School during the 2nd Annual Zoomie Car Show hosted by Start 1 Spark. 

Early one April morning, volunteers from Preferred Title & Settlement Services and Real Property Management arrived to welcome over 20 community members and their cool cars and motorcycles. It was time for the school’s car club members to celebrate! 

Throughout the school year, car club sponsor, Auto Rescue owner, Patrick McHugh, met with students and taught them basic maintenance skills. Using Start 1 Spark Executive Director’s car, students learned how to check the oil, replace air filters, charge a battery, change a tire, and more. 

“The goal of this club was to simply expose kids to automotive, to give them basic life skills, how to change a tire or jump-start a car,” said McHugh. 

He wanted to teach the students basic skills so if they ever got into any bad situations or trouble, they could use the skills to get them out of those situations.

McHugh further states, “There’s a lot of great careers in our industry, and sometimes all it takes is exposing a kid to some of the magic of our careers and industries to get them interested.”

Initially a girls-only club, the Salem Church Middle School Car Club expanded to include boys  and grew from about 15 to 21 students this year. Founded by student Addison Pittman, her favorite moments from the car club were getting to know everyone, their experiences, and learning to change tires and charge batteries.

“I like being in the club because I want people to learn more about cars, no matter their race, gender, or ethnicity,” said Pittman.

Sharing why he joined the car club, Jacob Luck said, “I want to become a race car driver and I want to learn a whole lot about mechanics and cars so I could work on cars when I'm older.”

In addition to teaching students fundamentals of car care, the club has done a great job with helping students stay engaged not only with the club but school as well.

Principal Nicholas Olson said, “When students participate in extracurriculars it gives them a sense of belonging, makes them more excited about school, they create new relationships with people that have a shared interest, and it allows them to apply what they are learning in class on a daily basis to something in the real world.”

The car show is a celebration of the hands-on skills, teamwork, and passion students have discovered all year long. And it wouldn’t be possible without community car enthusiasts volunteering to come early Friday morning.

Car owner, Mandy Moore, was one of the individuals who contributed to the event by showcasing her Ford Mustang RTR Spec 3.

“I attended the event and I thought it was great! I was very surprised at the questions the kids were asking and how much they seemed to enjoy all of the cars,” said Moore.

“I liked everything, everyone was revving their engines and there were a lot of old cool cars,” said Luck.

“It's definitely interesting to see different race cars, and see the motors,” said Pittman. Her favorite car at the show was the Corvette because it looks nice and very fancy.

As the show wound down and trophies were awarded to the students’ favorite cars, Pittman remarked how much she will miss the car club as she moves to high school next year. Access to extracurricular activities provides not only hands-on learning opportunities but also fond memories of school that will last a lifetime.