Automotive Technician Instructor at Florida Career College Mentors Students Beyond the Classroom
MIAMI, July 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Marino Fernandez was born and raised in the Dominican Republic. He moved to Miami with his family when he was still just a kid, and that's when he started growing an interest in cars and engines.
When at 14, he started working at the high-performance automotive shop, he said its owner became his best and most thorough instructor in everything automotive.
"The guy that trained me, he's a really, really good tech," Marino said. "He was in magazines and stuff like that. He pretty much taught me everything on how to work on and tune vehicles."
Despite the thorough, real-world education, however, Marino realized that as he grew into a young adult, he'd need more than experience to get noticed in the world of high-performance vehicles and race cars. He needed record that he received certified automotive training, so he entered an automotive tech program.
"Actually, I did it more to have that piece of paper saying that I went," Marino said. "Pretty much everything that the teacher was explaining, I already knew it because I already had years of experience. It was more a review. So, I spent a lot of time just helping out the other students."
Marino continued working in the high-performance automotive space into adulthood, building and tuning race cars for quarter-mile tracks and circuit races. He also regular worked on race-day pit crews, which meant he spent a lot of time on the road.
This was ideal for him while he was single, he said, but once he became a family man with two little girls, he wanted to spend more time at home. That's when he left the high-performance world to work within the more traditional, consumer- and corporate-based automotive tech world.
A Personal and Professional Mentor
Marino said he never actually pursued teaching as a career path. He was recruited by Florida Career College, he said, to teach part-time at the Hialeah campus for the new Automotive Technician program while still working at an auto tech at a local car dealership.
As fate would have it, however, a full-time opportunity opened up and, by then, he had established a positive reputation throughout the FCC automotive tech program.
"I was teaching night classes at first, and when students heard about me and learned about my style and the way I do things, everyone wanted to transfer to nights because they wanted me as a teacher," he said.
What attracts students to him, he believes, is that he shows respect for each and every student from day one. To him, every student is an automotive tech from the first moment they step foot in his classroom.
"I don't talk to my students like they're students at all," he said. "I treat them like technicians. Everyone calls me by my first name, and in the classroom, I'm their manager. I'll train you the proper way, and when you go through nine months with me, you're going to know what's going to be expected of you the first day you step into the shop."
Marino also believes in creating strong relationships with his students by being accessible as a teacher and mentor. In some cases, these relationships last long after graduation.
"A lot of [former students], when they're in the field and they have a problem, they call me," he said. "They say, 'Whenever you have a chance, I'm going to be diagnosing this or that. When you have time, maybe you can guide me through?' And, if I have time, I'll definitely help them."
But, the very best part about his job, Marino said, is helping students realize their own value both as an automotive technician and as a person – especially those who have turned to education and tech training as a second chance it life.
"Even helping solve problems over the phone and hearing their satisfaction … it's super rewarding," he said. "A lot of them, they didn't know they could do it. And, from now on, it's just going to get better for them."
About Florida Career College
Florida Career College (FCC) is an accredited, employee-owned post-secondary career education system with campuses locations in Florida and Texas. FCC offers programs in high-demand fields such as health care, business and skilled trades. Each program is designed to provide every student with the skills, knowledge, and training they need to be successful in their future careers. FCC programs are tailored to meet the needs of students with small classes. Students can train for entry-level careers and start building their future in as few as 10 months. For more information visit www.floridacareercollege.edu
Media contact:
Joe Cockrell
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(949) 812-7749
SOURCE Florida Career College
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