SLAM- A light blue door is closed with haste. A nearby air compressor roars in the background. Bright white and blue sparks spread throughout the room and disappear on impact with the gray floor. Skillfully, Senior Alex Moore loosens the lug nuts on a Ford F-250 tire hoping to replace the brake pads and restore the integrity of the truck’s braking system.
Moore, who is currently a Senior at DGS has already mapped out what his career path after high school might look like.
“I was born into the automotive industry, so I’m used to the environment of tough work and a lot of hours. I plan on going into the welding field which is along the lines of the automotive industry. I’m probably going to specialize in pipe welding because that’s where the demand for welders is,” Moore said.
Many seniors at DGS are dually enrolled with the Technology Center of Dupage and take classes at TCD during their school day.
“I’m currently taking welding courses at TCD. The welding courses are pretty good, although slow,” Moore said.
Complimenting his welding skills, Alex also works as a mechanic after school.
“We are diesel mechanics so it can be a lot of work sometimes. However, every day there is always something new. Working with cars is like putting together a puzzle, only with parts instead of pieces,” Moore said.
Along with his training in the welding field and his employment as a mechanic, Moore also spends a lot of his free time working on his cars.
“My first truck was a gift from a customer. We had to dig it out behind a shed because it was buried all the way up to the wheels. The engine was bad and I had to do a ton of work to swap it out for a diesel motor. Right now it looks like a big hunk-of-junk. But, I’m going to get it rust repaired so it has different colored body panels,” Moore said.
Senior Michael Trisoliere, a fellow DGS and TCD student, is one of Moore’s best friends. Trisoliere loves to poke fun at Moore’s newest edition to his car collection; a 1994 Ford Bronco.
“Every day I would tease him on whether his Bronco was working or not, and he would be like ‘shut up man, I’ll get it working eventually.’ When he finally did get working he was beaming with joy and he fell in love with it,” Trisoliere said.
