Students Anna-Lee Albon, 18, and Brodie Gardner, 19, with teachers Jessica White and Ian Burrowes, with Ms Gardner’s 1995 Daewoo they restored as part of their certificate. Picture: PETER MERKESTEYN
IF Brodie Gardner could have any car she would drive a Bentley.
So she wasn’t impressed when her automotive teacher brought in a 1995 Daewoo for her to fix up last year.
“I didn’t really like it but it’s a car,” Ms Gardener, a Wangaratta Victorian certificate of applied learning graduate, said.
Despite the difference in prestige, Ms Gardner, 19, bought the car off teacher Ian Burrowes for $300.
What followed was a five-month mission to get it roadworthy and comfortable.
“We put in a new windscreen, weld the muffler, get new seatbelts and put in a new radio,” Ms Gardner said.
The repair job is just one aspect of the applied learning certificate, a year 11 and 12 equivalent course that prepares students for university and different trades.
Mr Burrowes said it taught life skills.
“It helps students getting their first car learn how to purchase it and follow the process of getting it roadworthy,” he said.
Ms Gardner also became the first Wangaratta student to get her licence through the L2P driving program.
She has been behind the wheel of her Daewoo since March.
“In nearly nine months I haven’t had to fix a thing,” she said.