For many of the participants in the Summer Institute program the road that leads them to McPherson College begins with a great car story.

The Automotive Restoration program at McPherson College has hosted the Summer Institute for more than a decade. It offers five-day long workshops scheduled over three weeks where car hobbyists and professionals can concentrate on a specific skill area and gain hands-on learning from the program’s faculty.

It has been 16 years since Kevin Throneberry from New Mexico first came to the Summer Institute to take a paint class with his father-in-law who was a mechanic. Back then, the two were interested in learning new paint techniques. His father-in-law passed away late last year, leaving him and his family an extensive car collection to maintain. Throneberry decided it was time to return to the Summer Institute and brought his 15-year-old daughter, Jade, with him.

“Our biggest concern is how to maintain and fix anything that might need fixing,” he said. “We have a lot to learn.”

Jade’s interest in cars comes from spending hours with her grandfather watching him and helping him work on his cars and from knowing that as the oldest of the kids, she will have to help pitch in to maintain the collection.

“I mostly handed him wrenches,” she said about helping her grandfather. “I have a lot to learn and feel like my brain has expanded two times its size after taking this class. I’m sure we will come back next year, probably for three weeks, and bring my brother.”

Jade and her dad spent two weeks at the Summer Institute taking paint, sheet metal and drive train classes. Although Jade said she learned a great deal in her classes, her favorite part of the Summer Institute was learning to drive a Model T.

Another common thread among Summer Institute participants is enjoying time with family. The three generations of Tanner family, who travel from Massachusetts and Virginia, started coming to the Institute together last year; however, the youngest member of the trio, Cole, has been coming for the past three years and will begin his freshman year in the Automotive Restoration program this fall. But it was a car that ultimately introduced them to campus.

“I had a 1974 Porsche 914 as a teenager,” said John, Cole’s dad. “I had a picture of it and Cole always gave me a hard time for selling it.”

Cole and his grandfather, Eric, decided to track down the car. They were able to locate it in Georgia and talked the owner into selling it to them. After finding the car, the Tanners joined the Porsche Club of America and started going to events where they met Paul Russell, a long-time supporter of the Automotive Restoration program and a member of its National Advisory Board. Russell encouraged Cole and his family to look into McPherson College.

Cole, who will bring a 1929 Model A with him when he comes to campus this fall, says he loves coming to the Summer Institute classes and has enjoyed getting to know the professors. His dad agrees.

“It’s great to see teachers with such passion for what they do,” John said. “It’s infectious. I can see why their students are so successful.”

Sharing a passion for cars also brought the Casas family to Summer Institute this year. Eddie Casas, who participated in Summer Institute last year, brought his three sons – Eddie, age 17; Jacob, age 15; and Joshua, age 13 – with him this year and spent three weeks in paint, 3-D modeling and design, and advanced paint classes. The self-described “hands-on” family not only took advantage of all the classroom and lab experiences, but also took an opportunity to look for a new project to take back to Texas with them.

“We got out of class early one night and drove to Ottawa to buy a trailer then on the way back to McPherson stopped and purchased a 1952 Chevy panel truck,” Eddie said. “We didn’t get back until after eleven that night, but that’s the joy of it, having an adventure, and sharing it with my sons.”

The Casas call their panel truck the “McPherson Project” and hope to complete it and bring it back to show off at a Summer Institute in the future. “It’s a very meaningful project to me,” Eddie said. “We bought it together and will work on it together. We are really excited about it.”

The Casas brothers each had a favorite course from the three they took this summer, but did agree that the best part was interacting with the faculty, working on projects, and not sitting through lectures.

“It’s a great experience,” Eddie said. “The professors are very knowledgeable, which is one of the things that brought me back.”

The McPherson College Summer Institute classes are held in June of each year. Course descriptions and registration can be found on the college website at: https://www.mcpherson.edu/autorestoration/institute/

The McPherson College Automotive Restoration program was recently awarded a grant from The RPM Foundation to fund eight RPM Scholars and provide Internship Gap Funding for students.

“The work that is being done by RPM Foundation to connect young people to meaningful careers through their love of automobiles is important,” Amanda Gutierrez, vice president of Automotive Restoration, said. “By supporting scholarships and providing internship gap funding, the Foundation eases the expenses associated with studying on campus as well as summer learning opportunities around the country.”

The eight students named RPM Scholars are: Braden Hess, Prospect, Pennsylvania; Erik Wallace, Pantego, North Carolina; Zachary Alexander, Newton, Kansas; Dylan Riley, Lake Ozark, Missouri; Matthew Nutting, Foxboro, Massachusetts; Charles Hoehaver, Auburn, Alabama; Gray Irwin, Shawnee Mission, Kansas; Abi Morgan, Lansing, Illinois.

The RPM Foundation supports restoration and preservation training programs for the next generation of automotive, motorcycle, and marine craftsmen. Since 2003, the foundation has funded 87 scholarships for AR students at McPherson College.

“RPM has enjoyed a strong partnership with McPherson College, facilitating more than $700,000 in funding through program grants and we are proud again this year to congratulate the scholarship recipients,” Diane Fitzgerald, president of The RPM Foundation, said. “We are looking forward to assisting these and other students so they may become vital members of the automotive craftsmen community.”

The college along with the industry has benefited from the long-time association with and funding from RPM, according to Gutierrez. For example, there are currently four alumni on the AR faculty and staff who were RPM Scholars while students.

“We can really see the impact of this type of support,” Gutierrez said. “Not only do the recipients of these scholarships go on to work in the automotive industry, but four of our faculty were RPM scholars who are now committed to training the next generation of automotive industry leaders.”

Stepping onto the 18^th fairway of Pebble Beach before dawn to judge some of the most exquisite automobiles at one of the most prestigious events in the world is a rare opportunity. For McPherson College Automotive Restoration students, it is an opportunity that is not so far out of reach. Four McPherson College students recently returned from serving as shadow judges this year at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

McPherson College has been taking students to Pebble Beach since 2012 to involve them in the automotive industry at its highest level. Students Aaron Israel, Abigayle Morgan, Ben Falconer, and Dalton Whitfield, were invited this year to join the teams of expert judges who brought more than 2,000 years of judging experience to the field. The students were assigned to classes and fully participated in the judging experience.

Dalton Whitfield, a senior from Cleveland, Georgia, shadowed judges in the Pre-war Preservation Class and worked with judges eager to share their considerable knowledge with him. “The judges were incredible and willing to show me what they were looking for, from correct places of wear over time to original fabric and paint composition,” he said. “I learned that judging preservation is more like judging an artifact from a museum rather than a restored car.”

McPherson College is recognized in the Pebble Beach program and at its events as a leader in automotive restoration education and the Pebble Beach Company Foundation annually awards four scholarships to McPherson College students. The Foundation has also supported several McPherson College interns, helping defray living expenses while they gain experience. The college’s participation at the event has made it possible for students to experience the industry at its highest level.

“Being engaged with the top players in any industry is unreal, but the automotive industry is a different story than most others,” Aaron Israel, a senior from West End, North Carolina, said. He was part of the team that judged the Early Open-Wheel Race Cars Class.

“Being an automotive restoration student at McPherson College allows us to communicate with leaders in the industry on a personal level because they truly care about our futures,” Israel said. “They realize that students like us are the future of their industry. We are in a growing industry of people who have a passion about their future, their careers, and their hobbies.”

The college’s presence at Pebble Beach extends beyond its current students. McPherson College alumni are highly involved at the Concours at the auction houses, restoration shops, historical archives, in public relations and as automotive specialists for companies like Hagerty and RM Sotheby’s. While many McPherson College alumni are at the event working for a variety of companies there, others work for months prior to the event restoring cars that are shown. This year at least five recent alumni worked on automobiles ranging from Rolls Royces to Ferraris that were accepted to show at Pebble Beach.

“Alumni are a vital part of the restoration program and they provide an outlook on future job possibilities,” Abigayle Morgan, a junior from Lansing, Illinois, said. “It was inspiring to see friends and graduates who are successful in their respected markets. I could see myself in them. They went through the same classes I am going through, and lived in the same dorms I did. I love to see the various avenues that this degree has taken alumni. It is a great motivator.”

The Concours, held on August 20, was the final event of the Monterrey Car Week, a week full of events celebrating classic automobiles. Although judging at Pebble Beach was the highlight for the students, they also were recognized at a reception for patrons of the Pebble Beach Foundation, toured the paddock area of Laguna-Seca raceway during vintage races, watched the start of the Pebble Beach Tour d’Elegance, and attended several other events.

“Pebble Beach is the Disney World and Super Bowl for automobiles,” said Morgan, who helped judge the Rolls Royce Class. Her classmate Ben Falconer agreed.

Falconer, a sophomore from Greeley, Colorado, who helped judge the One-Off Ferrari Class said, “I not only experienced my first Concours, I got to experience it from an insider’s view. Being so young in this industry is often tough, we might not be taken seriously, but experiencing Pebble Beach and applying what we are learning there helps us prove ourselves.”