Mechatronics program sees rising interest from Latino students
By Tori Apodaca
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ROCKLIN, California (KMAX, KOVR) — This Hispanic Heritage Month, we bring you the story of a popular program at Sierra College in Rocklin that’s attracting Latino students. It is called mechatronics, the study of all things tech and automation.
“It’s what gets me going in the morning,” said student in the course, Adam Chavez. “It’s what I enjoy.”
The 16-year-old college student sees a bright future ahead because of this program.
“It kind of opened up my world and my eyes,” Adam said.
Department chair of mechatronics, Roy Ingram, said that with so much of the world being automated, there is a huge demand for technicians.
“If you’ve stopped at a traffic stop in a day, that’s a mechatronic system,” said Ingram. “If you’ve drank clean water, that’s a mechatronic system.”
The program is especially attracting Latino students.
“Electronics for Hispanics, it’s not about the language because math is math,” said student Sergio Gonzalez. “It’s not in any one language.”
Hispanics make up 20% of the Sierra College mechatronics students, welcoming people from all walks of life.
“The math for me is more challenging,” said student Al Chavez.
For students like Francisco Chima, he hopes the skills he learns here will bring him bigger opportunities.
“I want to get my own company and be the boss,” said Chima.
What is special about the program is that it is breaking barriers because it is so hands-on. It has even become a family affair. “This is my dad, my grandpa and my brother,” said Adam.
Adam’s father, Al, found the high school was offering a summer mechatronics course at the college and signed up too.
“Adam was a freshman in high school. He was just bored with the content,” said Al. “It just wasn’t challenging enough for him.”
Al saw the class transform his son over the summer.
“Before that, he was a little depressed and bummed out, but after that, it lit a spark and that changed everything,” said Al.
The spark set off a chain reaction as Al rallied his other son, Daniel, and father-in-law, Sergio Gonzalez, to join in.
“Like I told the professor, I am drinking from the fire hose,” said Gonzalez.
For Sergio, understanding the coursework has not been easy, but lucky for him, his grandson sits nearby and helps his family understand – reinforcing the complex mechanics.
“There’s just so much camaraderie and to me, just seeing that happen is really meaningful,” said Ingram.
Adam’s father said no one in his family went to college, so seeing the opportunities his sons have is everything to him.
“I try not to give him too much praise to get his ego too big, but super proud,” said Al.
The multi-generational classroom is building a promising future for young people like Adam.
Ingram said most of his students are offered high-paying tech jobs. In some cases, those offers are made before they even graduate.
On top of those big salaries, these students have little to no student loan debt.
“Just go for it,” said Adam. “It is going to push you, but it is a really promising course.”
Adam plans to graduate from high school early and attend San Jose State to study mechatronic engineering.
His dad, grandfather and brother are mostly taking the course to support him but also learning a lot along the way.
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