BMW Training Penn College Graduates
Published 07.30.1999
Two Pennsylvania College of Technology auto body technology graduates are fine-tuning their skills with BMW of North America, Inc.
Thomas Pardoe, Forksville, and Joshua Nyemscek, Emmaus, are enrolled in BMW's Service Technician Education Program.
Each year, BMW only accepts eight students from North America for the training. An intensive, nine-month program, STEP is designed to produce highly motivated, well-trained paint and body technicians for positions at BMW dealerships.
With the help of Alfred M. Thomas II, associate professor of auto body and automotive technology department head at Penn College, Pardoe and Nyemscek gained interviews for the selective training at BMW's National Training Center in Montvale, N.J. The graduates also were given a written and practical exam.
"Penn College has a pretty good reputation with BMW," Thomas said. The faculty member has had a long-standing relationship with the BMW STEP program originating from teaching experience in Michigan, during which he had six students accepted to the program.
STEP training consists of classroom theory as well as hands-on work. The students receive a range of paint and body repair training. They work with BMW-approved equipment and repair materials and also learn paintless dent repair.
Pardoe and Nyemscek will complete their BMW training in September. STEP graduates are then assisted by the corporation in locating jobs at authorized BMW dealerships.
Thomas says he hopes to place three more Penn College students in STEP training in January.