Six Washtenaw Community College students are trading their Ypsilanti-area classrooms for the Las Vegas Convention Center floor next week, where they will disassemble and rebuild a Ford Bronco in front of the public as part of a new partnership with Ford Motor Company. The students — Carter Lillie and Claire Crandall of Milan, Tess Schroeder of South Lyon, Jason Winterhalter of Ypsilanti, Rocco Guido of Manchester and Kaley Williams of Jackson — were chosen for the project known as the Ford Custom Garage Ultimate Build.
According to MLive, Washtenaw Community College and Ford are partnering for the build, which a press release distributed via GlobeNewswire describes as pairing WCC and the automaker for the Ford Custom Garage Ultimate Build. The six students will work in teams during a two-day, public-facing build inside the Las Vegas Convention Center during the 2026 SEMA Show, the release notes. The show itself runs Nov. 3-6, according to SEMA Show, though the event is trade-only and opens to the general public just one day, Friday, Nov. 6.
Getting picked for the project wasn't simple. The six students were selected through a competitive application process that weighed academic performance, essay quality, faculty recommendations, professionalism and teamwork readiness, per the same GlobeNewswire release. They represent WCC's automotive service and automotive body programs, and beginning in August they enrolled in a course built specifically to prepare them for the live build — training that included disassembling and reassembling Ford Bronco components and a visit to the SEMA Garage.
Months of Prep Before the Bronco Hits the Floor
Preparation went beyond wrenching. The students also completed eight sessions of a Ford Speaker Series covering the business behind Ford customization, aftermarket strategy, vehicle personalization, product development and event readiness, the release states. Once the show opens, students will disassemble designated components, install selected aftermarket upgrades, reassemble the vehicle and present the completed build, mirroring the hands-on structure of their coursework.
Ford executive Matt Simpson, who serves as executive director of Ford customization, said the partnership creates a clearer path from classroom learning to automotive careers and represents an investment in the skilled talent the industry needs. WCC President Dr. Rose B. Bellanca said manufacturers nationwide will need millions of highly skilled workers in the coming years, and added that education-industry partnerships with Ford are essential to preparing the next generation of automotive professionals.
A Workforce Gap Driving the Urgency
The project is being framed around a broader skilled-trades shortage. Nationally, 24% of the trades workforce is 55 or older and nearing an exit, while just 11% of workers are under 25, according to the Alliance for America's Skilled Trades: A National Report, which the GlobeNewswire release says is supported by BlackRock, Carhartt, Ford and Google. Separately, ConstructConnect reports employers are projected to fill about 1.7 million skilled-trades openings annually through 2035, including more than 600,000 net new positions, while only about 55 people are being trained for every 100 workers needed nationally.
That same report found that among 100 apprenticeship starters, just 48 complete their programs and only 29 enter a trade occupation within five years — though Ford notes on its From The Road site that high-quality apprenticeship programs see completion rates above 90%. It's the kind of gap partnerships like the WCC-Ford build are meant to help close, connecting classroom learning with hands-on industry experience well before students graduate.
Not WCC's First Trip to the SEMA Floor
This isn't Washtenaw Community College's first rodeo at the Las Vegas show. Back in 2018, students in the college's Custom Cars & Concepts program and other auto body students customized a Ford F-350 that was exhibited at SEMA, according to Washtenaw Community College. About 20 students and staff contributed to that build, and eight of them traveled to Las Vegas for the show — which marked the fourth vehicle WCC had built for Extang/Truck Hero to be featured at SEMA.
WCC isn't the only program sending students to build vehicles for the Las Vegas spotlight. An all-female team in Diamond Bar has also built a custom Ford Bronco for a Las Vegas trade show, according to ABC7, with that project likewise designed to showcase automotive skills and teamwork. SEMA Show attendees will also be able to design their own custom builds using a digital configurator during this year's event, per MLive.
The Bronco build is also being documented on camera. Serge Gregory, a WCC digital video student from Ann Arbor, has been filming the experience since August, and that footage will become a documentary for Ford and Washtenaw Community College while also supporting Gregory's own degree requirements, MLive reported.
