At 20, Michael Hovland skipped the four-year campus tour and went straight from L.D. Bell High School to a full-time technician gig. Now he is on track to graduate debt-free with honors in May through Dallas College’s Ford ASSET pathway while turning wrenches at a Sam Pack Ford shop. What started as a job he needed to pay the bills has become an actual career blueprint, powered by a mentor who nudged him to think long term. His path from high school auto shop to dealership floor mirrors a broader North Texas shift, as more students pick hands-on training while the old promise of white-collar security looks shakier in the age of artificial intelligence.
As reported by CBS News Texas, shop foreman Roger Calderon, a graduate of the Ford ASSET program who later returned to teach it, urged Hovland to enroll in the dealership-sponsored track and ultimately brought him on staff. According to the station, a Dallas College spokesperson said Hovland is set to graduate in May with honors and no debt. Hovland told CBS he realized he “could just be a technician, make money, and grow,” adding that robots might handle diagnostics but “you need that human touch.” The combination of mentorship, paid experience under the hood, classroom hours and college support systems helped him juggle work and school without losing momentum.
A Direct Pipeline: Ford ASSET At Dallas College
According to Dallas College, the Dealership-Sponsored Technician Associate of Applied Science degree with a Ford ASSET emphasis runs out of the Brookhaven campus and intentionally pairs college coursework with cooperative work in sponsoring dealerships. The school’s pathway map spells out a semester-by-semester sequence that centers on modern vehicle electronics, diagnostics and cooperative education so students earn both credentials and real shop time. Dallas College notes that students must be sponsored by a participating dealership and that the track is tailored to match the needs of the local workforce.
Trade Programs Are Gaining National Momentum
National enrollment numbers back up the local pivot. The Hechinger Report, citing data from the National Student Clearinghouse, found that mechanic and repair programs grew about 11.5% from spring 2021 to spring 2022, while construction and culinary programs also logged double-digit gains. Analysts told Hechinger that lower costs, quicker routes to steady paychecks and the belief that hands-on work is harder to automate have pushed more students toward the trades. Those national forces help explain why North Texas colleges are betting heavily on employer partnerships and certificate programs.
Local Employers Are Leaning In
Dealerships around the Metroplex are already drawing from these pipelines. CBS News Texas reported that Calderon hired Hovland and said he recognizes a younger version of himself in the new technician. At the same time, local community colleges and Dallas College promote short-term certificates in plumbing, HVAC, welding and electrical trades that educators say are framed to treat AI as a tool instead of a looming replacement. For students wary of signing up for four years of tuition and loans, the mix of paid shop work, on-site mentors and structured college support can make the trades feel like the safer financial play.
Hovland’s combination of a paying job, sponsored coursework and a foreman who backed his ambitions is exactly the outcome education leaders hope will address technician shortages while giving young workers stable careers as technology reshapes office life. Across North Texas, the pitch from schools and dealerships is increasingly blunt and pragmatic: pick a skill employers already need, earn a paycheck while you learn it and let the tech in the bay help you do the work instead of trying to do the work for you.
