LEWISTON – Lewiston Regional Technical Center will drop one automotive program and add two others in engineering and health this fall.

Auto body collision repair, a two-year program that teaches students how to fix cars damaged in accidents, will be discontinued. About 32 high school juniors and seniors were enrolled in the 16-year-old program this year. Students who did not graduate will be shifted to other programs, including automotive technology.

LRTC officials said they decided to drop collision repair because graduates have had a difficult time finding jobs in the field. Larger body shops prefer to train their own people, officials said, and smaller, independent body shops aren’t hiring or are going out of business.

“Our kids weren’t accessing that world of work,” said Director Don Cannan.

The school’s automotive technology courses will remain intact. That program teaches students how to diagnosis problems and repair engines, electrical systems and other vehicle parts.

As it drops its auto body program, LRTC will add programs in engineering and health science. Students will enter the programs as sophomores and stay for three years. Cannan said the programs would be rigorous, demanding that students enroll in high-level academic courses while they take more hands-on technical classes.

By graduation, students will be prepared for college and careers in engineering, medicine, dentistry and other health-related fields, officials said.

“I believe the kids who get out of these programs will be the best trained in the state of Maine,” he said.

Twenty students have enrolled in the engineering program for the fall. Just over 30 have enrolled in health science.

Cannan said the new programs cost about $30,000 to $50,000 to implement, not including teachers’ salaries. Much of those costs were paid by grants.

LRTC serves nearly 900 high school students from Lewiston and surrounding towns.

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