HEROES AMONG US: Give Him an A!

Bob McCarroll

Hero Stories

One day like any other, Robert McCarroll was teaching his Auto Academy class at San Clemente High - when there was a knock on his door. The principle and several men showed up. That could get any teacher a little nervous, including McCarroll. He needn’t have worried. He was about to be told he was named “Teacher of the Year.”

The award was presented by San Clemente Wal-Mart manager, Leo Dennis, with a $1000 check and gift card for McCarroll’s program. “I was completely shocked,” said McCarroll. Who better to get the award than someone training people for work in what once was called “service” stations? And serve he does. “I counted it up once. Over 6,000 students have come through my program.”

McCarroll’s Academy teaches all the basics of understanding cars, but puts great emphasis on building quality character. “Punctuality, loyalty, honesty, integrity. That’s the difference between being successful or not. You could be the world’s best mechanic, but if you can’t get along with the guys in the shop, nobody wants you.”

His consumer automotive class teaches what we all should know about our cars…“everything from maintenance, to what to do if they think there’s fraud,” says McCarroll. “All my kids know the toll-free number for the Bureau of Automotive Repair. They know how to shop smart for a car, and how to know it’s been in an accident. I think everybody who owns a driver’s license should have a course like that. If they did, there’d be a lot less fraud.”

“These guys are really in high demand. They often make more money than college graduates.” Some teachers may have given up on some of these students. Not Bob. He says, “While some say, ‘He’ll never amount to anything.’ We take them in. We take them from a tax burden to a taxpayer. They need someone to believe in them and they need a valuable skill to make a good living.”

“Some kids come in with their faces dragging on the ground. Everything they’ve tried in school, they didn’t enjoy or weren’t successful at. In this program, they find something they can be successful at and really like. It doesn’t hurt that their buddies now come to them with car questions ‘Knowledge is power.’ That’s what I tell them. The more you know, the more you can do, the more valuable you are. Once these kids come into the Auto Academy, we see improvements in attitude, grades and attendance. How much money does that save the school district? Thousands. Plus it really makes the kids successful.”

Former student Brian Schroepher, was a guest speaker for McCarroll’s yearly program where the Academy honors business partners who hire his interns. Brian had severe dyslexia. “When he came into my 10th grade class, he had a 2nd grade reading level. But Brian really liked working on cars. He studied, did his best and got on my trouble-shooting team. Brian won the County championship. He missed the National championship by a headlight switch. That was worth 17 points. Now Brian’s an engineer who works for Honeywell. Last I heard, he was working on some top-secret airplane issue for the Air Force.”

Thirteen orange pennants hang from McCarroll’s ceiling. Each represents a year at the state finals, 13 out of 20 - more than any other school in Orange County. Seven rows of checkered flags denote when they went to nationals. McCarroll isn’t a newcomer to awards. His program was the first at SCH to win the coveted Golden Bell award.

His students are “driven” – sorry for the pun. In 2006 two students went to the nationals in NYC. They got to work on a new 2006 BMW 235i to find and fix the “bugs” purposely put in the car. They finished ninth in the nation. “Both of my students came home with $60,000 in scholarship money – each!” The team so impressed the National Training Director of BMW, he gave them his card saying, “When you finish training, give us a call.”

Two people influenced McCarroll, his grandpa and his wife. His grandpa taught him how to repair broken items people had thrown away because they didn’t know how to fix them. He also taught McCarrol about character. “I patterned myself after Grandpa. He had all the character traits I hold in high esteem.” McCarrroll’s wife said she wouldn’t marry him until he promised to attend college. “I didn’t want to go, because college is where the smart kids went. Those of us who were average, or like myself, below average, did something else. In high school, I got pigeonholed into what was called a “slow” class. I thought, “I must not be too smart, therefore “D’ is probably the best I can do.” However when McCarroll applied himself in college, he got B’s. He thought it was a fluke. “I must’ve had easy teachers. I had no confidence at all. But my wife had confidence in me.” Today McCarroll passes along that confidence to his students.

“Looking back now, 35 years later, I think there was a higher plan for me. Somebody had something in store for me. I’m right where I’m supposed to be, doing what I’m supposed to do…teaching these guys.”

Let’s give him an A+

McCarroll’s Lessons:

• You Never Know How You Will Influence Someone’s Life.

McCarroll didn’t apply for the Wal-Mart “Teacher of the Year” Award. He was nominated by student, Josh Blum, who said McCarroll was one of the best teachers he’d ever had and thought McCarroll deserved the recommendation.

• Technical Skills are Less Important than Character

Students can get trained in a skill but an employer will not teach them character. McCarroll does. “They expect you to know how to work on a car. If you don’t, they can teach you. But they’re not going to teach you how to be loyal to the company.” McCarroll didn’t make his high school honor society, but that doesn’t stop him from teaching about honor.

• Set the Tone

“I’ve always believed that if you want someone to perform a certain way, you have to set the tone. If I want the kids to be on time, I’m on time. I say, ‘If you start at 8:00, don’t be there at 8:00 - be there at quarter till or ten till. Be early.’ Show the employers you care about his business.”

• Good Work Pays Off

The Academy students are required to do a summer internship at a local business. “About 60% of these kids get hired right out of the internship,” said McCarroll, “Girls should be encouraged to do this. They can make lots of money as a technician.”

• Know Your Stats to Help Your Students

“The Department of Labor Statistics says that we are 60,000 automotive technicians short. What that means is that if we took all the kids in automotive training programs right now and put them to work tomorrow, we’d still be short 60,000 openings. And the Dept of Labor is projecting that number will grow by 10,000 each year for the next decade.” That knowledge armed McCarroll with info to prove just how valuable these skills will be to his students.

• Use the Community Resources

McCarroll works with local business owners to offer internships for his Academy program. It’s win/win. Students get experience and often job offers. The business owners train, teach, and handpick potential employees.

By Terri Marie

Award Winning Author of Be The Hero of Your Own Game.