SANTA PAULA : Car Donated to High School for Auto Classes

It’s a teen-ager’s dream. A brand new sports car equipped with a compact disc player and sunroof, all ready to roll.

Unfortunately, students at Santa Paula High School won’t be driving the $22,000 metallic green Z28 Camaro donated to the school by a local car dealer. Instead, students enrolled in the automotive department will spend their time learning how to take the car apart and put it back together again as part of their class.

But that’s OK with student Steven McKeen, 16, who will have an opportunity to work on the car.

“We are really excited,” Steven said. “It will be a good experience to find out how the car was put together and what features these new machines have.”

This was the second time in the last 17 years that a dealer has donated a new vehicle to the high school, said Sandra Barbier, Santa Paula High School principal and deputy superintendent.

“We are so appreciative of this gift,” Barbier said. “We live in an era where students are in need of vocational training, and this would provide them with that training.”

Half of the 126 students enrolled in the school’s automotive classes will have a chance to work on the new car, said Bill Atwood, who is in charge of the high school’s automotive department.

“For the next 10 years, students will be able to disassemble and assemble this car a thousand times,” Atwood said. “This will give them a chance to learn the latest technology in a computerized system.”

The car, which cannot be licensed, titled or driven on any road, was donated by Santa Paula Chevrolet dealership and GEO as part of a program which aims at providing schools with cars for in-classroom instructional purposes.

Since 1972, Chevrolet has donated nearly 11,000 vehicles to schools nationwide, said John Macik, executive general manager for Santa Paula Chevrolet.