Guadalupe “Lupe” Jaramillo has had a lifelong interest in cars.

He played with toy cars as a child, dreaming one day he would work on actual cars as an adult.

“I’ve always loved cars. I started by playing with Hot Wheels when I was a kid,” says Lupe. “I had that big rug with all the streets on it, you know the one? I used to play with my cars on that. Then I started to go to car shows.

“I always knew I wanted to have an automotive career.”

That dream has now become a reality.

Fueled by a Gateway Technical College Automotive Technology degree, Lupe says the degree gave him a head start on his career and future and will help him to reach his career goals.

“You need the degree for your future,” says Lupe. “Especially if you want to become a manager or own your own shop some day. You need a degree for that.

“I obtained that degree, and the doors opened for me. This is a field looking for people who know what they are doing – and the training I received at Gateway will help me to know what I need to succeed.”

Lupe began his education and career path early. He earned eight Gateway credits while still in high school through a transcripted credit agreement. Students like  Lupe earn college credits in high school and apply them toward earning a college degree.

“I see a lot of people going to a four-year college. They pay a lot of money, and they don’t end up getting the career they really wanted or that job that pays a lot of money. Going to Gateway, my tuition bill will be a lot less expensive – and it will give me the skills for a  job that pays well, and one that I will like.”

Lupe says he benefited from the program’s mix of lecture and hands-on application in the college’s state-of-the-art Horizon Center for Transportation Technology.

“We have the lecture, we do our lessons on paper – then we get our hands dirty and actually take things apart and put them back together to see how they work,” says Lupe. “You put into practice what you learn.”