A new million-dollar car lab at MATC will train students for automotive services careers

Students who may be interested in an automotive services career in Milwaukee Area Technical Collge's RevUp program have a new, $1.4 million 7,400-square-foot lab for hands-on training. 

MATC created the new space on its downtown campus for students of all ages and will host programs for high school and middle school students to experience automotive work. The goal is to increase awareness of opportunities in high-tech automotive services and improve training. 

The new training site, with seven auto repair bays, one analyzer bay and one wash/detailing bay, replaced an auditorium.

The Al Hurvis/PEAK Transportation Center opened Tuesday with a ribbon-cutting. MATC also spent $1.4 million to renovate additional classroom space next to the lab. 

The lab will be the home of the college's RevUp program that trains highly skilled technicians for automotive service industry jobs. The program is supported with $3.23 million; automotive executive Tom Hurvis gave $1.1 million in seed funding and matched subsequent gifts in honor of his father, Al. 

RevUp began in 2017 and has two degree programs — a two-year associate degree and a nine-month technical diploma. The Al Hurvis/PEAK Transportation Center plans to host after-school and summer immersion programs for high school and middle school students for 350 student each year and auto industry career outreach events for 900 students a year.   

Sarah Hauer can be reached at shauer@journalsentinel.com or on Instagram @HauerSarah and Twitter @SarahHauer. Subscribe to her weekly newsletter Be MKE at jsonline.com/bemke.