When Draven Leady enrolled in Sandburg’s automotive technology program last year, he thought he’d have to borrow tools from his father and grandfather to use in his classes.
Then Leady got wind of the college’s Tools of the Trade grant. His concerns subsided, and his inventory expanded. The grant provides students in the automotive technology program with required equipment and supplies, including a new tool cart and tools to go with it.
“It was like Christmas when we opened them up,” said Leady, who graduated in May with an automotive technology certificate. “It was so joyful seeing everyone open theirs up and putting everything in their toolboxes.”
Now entering its second year, Tools of the Trade is supported through the Carl Sandburg College Foundation and the Edward Arthur Mellinger Educational Foundation. A limited number of Tools of the Trade grants for the 2024-25 academic year are still available on a first-come, first-served basis. The grant reduces costs and eliminates barriers that would hinder students interested in the automotive technology program.
“At the end of this last year, we had students telling us they may not have come to Sandburg or taken part in our automotive program if it wasn’t for the Tools of the Trade grant,” said Eric Johnson, chief advancement officer for the Sandburg Foundation. “This grant — just like all of the other grants and scholarships we have to support Sandburg students — is an investment in the success of students on our campus and people in our area.”
Each grant recipient gets a tool cart and is supplied with a variety of tools, including standard and metric sockets and wrenches, an air impact wrench, a dead-blow hammer, a ball-peen hammer, screwdrivers, torx bits, hex bits, Allen wrenches, a multimeter, a test light and more.
“It was a really good starter set for us,” said Leady, a 2023 graduate of Spoon River Valley High School. “It took a lot of what I needed to get off my plate, especially the wrenches and sockets. Those cost a lot of money with how good of quality they are. I thought they were going to be hand-me-downs or something people threw in there, but they were brand new. We ripped them right out of the packaging.”
And when students finish their time in the program like Leady did, they don’t have to turn their tools back in. Once they’ve earned their diploma, they’ll also have earned the equipment they used to get it.
“Having this grant is a great benefit for students as they enter this program, and it also serves as a great incentive for them to succeed in their time here,” Johnson said. “No matter where someone is in their life, there are opportunities at Sandburg. People who come here are doing everything they can to better themselves. If we can help people get there, we’re doing our part.”
Leady will be back at Sandburg this fall to study welding in addition to being a full-time assembly worker at Heat & Control. He said he’ll still put his new tools to use at home for work on his own car or doing side jobs for friends. That passion for car projects started as a kid when he helped his dad with maintenance on his vehicles.
“I loved it a lot, and I didn’t realize how much I loved it until I look back on it now,” Leady said. “I’m actually doing something that I really enjoy. The more I think about it, the more grateful I am to have that (tool set) with me.”
LEARN MORE: TOOLS OF THE TRADE SUCCESS GRANT
***Courtesy of Carl Sandburg College***