Driving His Dreams: Q&A with Everett Abercrombie
Everett Abercrombie poses inside the Petaluma High School’s Metal shop building.
From tinkering with Maserati's, fixing his own car, to crafting a road-ready electric vehicle and manufacturing parts for NASA, Everett Abercrombie, a 17-year-old senior at Petaluma High, has delved into a wide array of projects and amassed a pretty stellar skillset over the last four years as an advanced Metal and Auto shop student. He shares about the soft and hard skills he’s gained across the trades, what he loves most about his experience, and the community of support he’s received as he pursues mechanical engineering.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what you are pursuing?
I’m currently enrolled in both Metal and Auto shop advanced classes at Petaluma High School. My intention is to work alongside the skilled trades as a mechanical engineer. My interest is around making it easier to work on cars. Modern technology has been wonderful, but it’s broughten certain curses. Through my experience I’ve realized how overcomplicated or purposefully hard it is to get to a fix with a car for example, simply because of a bad design or because a company has designed and built something for them to only fix. I do not like that and want to be a part of making it simpler.
How did you get interested in mechanical engineering? What have been catalysts for you to take Metal and Auto shop?
When I was younger, my family would always watch Mythbusters and since I first saw that I fell in love with creating things. My first experience with making something was in 7th grade. My library had a 3D printer and that was my first experience designing something with the most basic software. Then my brother’s friend took Metal Shop here, and that helped inspire me to take it. From there I joined Auto shop and completely fell in love with both of these classes. They really draw my attention. It’s so much fun to tear something apart or just build it from the ground up.
What are some of the projects you’ve worked on in these classes?
In Metal shop my first project was making a box by taking some sheet metal, trimming it, folding it, and welding it. From there I’ve gone on to make a pen on a lathe, a shovel for sand and snow, and a miniature hammer. I’ve even made parts for NASA, as part of the HUNCH program that we have established with NASA.
In Auto shop my first group project was working on a Model T. We trimmed and shaped the metal and turned it into a hot rod for one of the store owners in town that commissioned it from us. Some of our other projects have been building a base engine from the ground up (which has been my favorite), putting nitrous into a Charger and turning into a drag car, taking an engine out of a Maserati (currently on the lift in the shop), and even building a SWITCH Electric Vehicle. With the EV, it’s a lot of fun to have that kind of hands-on experience with wiring. I feel like it’s one of the most complicated things I’ve had to deal with – it doesn’t seem complicated once you actually understand it, but before I understood it just looked like a nest of twigs. I had no idea what all these wires did. But now I do. It’s been great to have access to all of this.
You have incredible confidence when talking about the work you’re doing. How did you gain that confidence?
I think it depends on how many years you’ve taken this class [Auto shop], but if you know most of the basics, like what this sensor is, where it goes, how not to mess up putting a wire back in, or break a snap, using tools properly, you begin to gain the confidence. And then when you go to take something apart there's something about seeing the mechanics. You can see how the pieces work together. And with that, it allows you to learn how to put it back together. So I did not start out with this confidence. I do not have as much as I let out. It's just working in a team and having multiple minds talk about something is really what brings it out of you.
What other skills or qualities have you gained from these classes?
100% teamwork. Since we're working in groups here and almost in any shop, you're going to be working with other people, so you need to be able to talk about stuff and explain what you're doing on something either to a teammate or to the customer themselves. You need to be able to put into words what you've done to the car. With our groups here, you have to explain to your teammates what you’ve done during a project so that when they take over, if I’m not here for example, they know exactly where I left off. And it's really just a great class in showing you how to work with other people that may not have the same opinions on something that you have.
What do you love most about Auto and Metal shop?
I love how much you actually get to do in these classes. It’s not just a class where you hear about what it’s like to do this stuff. It’s a class where you actually do it. You take something apart or build it, plan it up from the very beginning. Design it, create it, machine it. Or you see the problem, diagnose it. You hear the problem, and then you actually go through step by step to fix it. And all guided by a teacher who actually is willing to help people and is willing to accept when they make a mistake. It’s a very important and impactful learning environment that allows you the freedom to learn something the way you need to.
What’s the community of support been like for you?
Everyone I’ve met, from people here or people who work in local shops, they're all willing to help you and teach you. They want to spread the information that they know. It's not like they're trying to hide anything. Everyone in our class, for example, sees something slightly different from one another and they want to share how they see it with you. You don’t have to solve a problem alone. If you don't have the skills to do it, people here want to help you succeed.
Is there anything you wish you had access to?
The only machine that I ever wanted we actually have now, a Dynamometer. It lets you test and see the power that your car actually has. So say we're adding nitrous to a Charger to increase the horsepower, we’re actually able to see what the benefits of it are and see how much power we're actually gaining with this tool.
What do you wish younger students knew about these classes and the path you’re taking?
To not be afraid to step into a new area of learning and a whole different classroom environment. Even though it looks so much different than a “regular” learning environment, it’s nothing to be afraid of.
What advice would you give your younger self?
I would tell my past self to take Auto shop earlier and to not skip Metal Shop my sophomore year. Taking that break between each class took away a whole other year of learning from me. I could have used that to gain more skills and complete more projects and leave a bigger impact.
What are you doing post high school?
I’m exploring both internships and college enrollment, pursuing mechanical engineering. I’m very interested in automotive design. I’d love to work on a Formula 1 (F1) racing team. I love the sport and the competitive nature of it. The amount they push their cars in extremely stressful situations and push each other to create new things is just amazing.
