Story and Photos by Tim Morris
The High Desert PCA, fall tech session was held at German Master Tech on Saturday Oct. 22. @ 9AM.
Members and 21 Boy Scouts were welcomed to the High Desert PCA Fall Tech Session by Tim Morris. This was a mixed group of Scouts from many Troops in the Crater Lake Council. Scouts attending ranged across the Boy Scout Ranks including four Eagle Scouts! After coffee (adults) and doughnuts were consumed thing got going about 9:30.
Theme of the day was "The Automotive Maintenance Merit Badge". The Scouts were broken into four groups with Members and Tim's crew leading the way thru the requirements. One group had the pleasure of working with Blake Viens, GMT's Master Porsche Technician, on Roger Sander's 996 Turbo. Once in the shop all the boys went to that station and sadly most had to go to work on "other" cars. Mike Simmons headed up the group with the 72 BMW 2002. Josh Gallaty had a group on the X5 and Tim's group on the shops Toyota Pick Up.
The requirements were quite in depth, from basic knowledge of cars, simple repairs, where to fine information to diagrams of vehicle systems. Also the final requirement was to do a "Vehicle Budget" work sheet. The worksheet covered areas of expense: buying the car, insurance & maintenance, etc. This exercise made the Scouts well aware of the financial responsibilities of vehicle ownership. (I'd like to recommend this work sheet to a few people I know.) If the reader is interested in the requirements check "The Boy Scout Trail" online and go to merit badges.
Results: nine scouts earned the badge that day!
Thanks to all who showed up and participated!