Bronx Community College’s Automotive Technology Program was recently featured on Telemundo 47 Responde, highlighting how BCC students are preparing for careers in a high-demand industry. Reporter Liz González visited the University Heights campus to learn more about the program and its hands-on approach.

The segment shows students moving between the classroom and the automotive workshop, where they learn diagnostics, mechanical repair, and electrical systems. Students shared their passion for automotive work, and the report noted the program’s growing number of women and its focus on hybrid and electric vehicles.

BCC offers the only Automotive Technology program within the CUNY system. Supported by industry partners including Nissan and General Motors, the program prepares students from all five boroughs for well-paying jobs at dealerships and public agencies across New York City.

Watch the full Telemundo 47 Responde segment above to learn more. A rough translation is provided below.

Rough Translation

It can be very beneficial, and hundreds of students at Bronx Community College are studying how to repair mechanical and electric cars.

On Telemundo 47 Responde, our colleague Liz González visited the class to learn more about this program, which offers a two-year college degree and the possibility of getting a job upon graduation.

Good afternoon. Hello, Rosarina. The unemployment rate right now is higher for young college graduates, but this program focuses on the automotive industry, which is experiencing a worker shortage and, according to the instructor, is offering good salaries.

In the University Heights neighborhood in the Bronx, students are learning about electricity in the classroom and then move on to the mechanical workshop, where they are taught how to repair automobiles.

Dominican student Sebastián Guzmán says that learning these skills is incredibly exciting for him.

“I would like to work on all of that—some European cars, some American cars. Being able to do everything in mechanics is very fascinating.”

Since when have you liked cars? “Since I was little. Since I was a kid, I’ve been a fan of cars.”

Bronx Community College offers a two-year degree and certification to work at a dealership for interested students. Students who succeed in this program always seem to find well-paying jobs. They start with salaries of $55,000 a year and can earn more than double after five years because, as the instructor says, the automotive industry is looking for this type of talent.

The program is sponsored by Nissan and General Motors, and it is now more common to see women in this program.

One student says she wants to follow in her father’s footsteps—he is a mechanic. “I like getting my hands dirty. This program is opening my eyes because there is so much work. I’m going into mechanics because it’s tougher, you know—and that’s the kind of enthusiasm that’s needed.”

According to the instructor, electricity is part of the lessons to prepare young people to work on hybrid and electric cars in the future. “A lot of people only know how to work on engines, but not many are focusing on electricity, and that’s good. With this program, students are being introduced to electricity and how to work on those cars.”

Three hundred students participate in the program, the only one offered by CUNY, and they come from all five boroughs.

The college says its graduates are working throughout the city in different municipal and state agencies and at dealerships. As you saw, the young people—both men and women—are very enthusiastic.