Last week, Warren Waugh, owner of Lyon-Waugh Auto Group, presented a check for $50,000 to the GHS Automotive Shop to help fund an additional auto shop teacher. This is the second of three payments to the school, each for $50,000.

Waugh discovered the GHS vocational school a few years ago through an employee.

“A couple years back I found out about the technical school – we actually have an employee who had graduated from GHS – and it spiked my interest because we’re always looking for new young talent,” said Waugh. “I wanted to get involved in the technical schools on the North Shore and invest so that one,  we could make a difference, and two, students would consider my organization as a place to be employed.” 

The grant goes directly to the Vocational school to cover the teacher’s salary.

“With any type of education, having a mentor teacher who is working with a smaller group is going to give the students a much better opportunity to learn,” Waugh said.

With another staff member in the Automotive shop, there’s more of an opportunity for hands-on learning while keeping social distancing, and for teaching both remote and live.

“This is huge, we’re able to have the second teacher now; our shops are growing and they’re going to continue to grow,” said Automotive teacher Jack Porter.  “This is hands on work and it’s awesome, but to try to run this shop, and the other shop, with just one teacher is difficult. This year is a really difficult year, [and the second teacher] allows us to teach remotely and live. We can do it without the stress the other teachers are seeing.”