Mount Vernon High School and Rockland Community College have teamed up with a new partner to get students into automotive jobs.

Under the program, Ford Motor Company and dealership Scarsdale Ford take students who are into cars and turn them into auto tech experts.

They presented a showcase in the high school's automotive shop on Thursday night.

The superintendent, a placement specialist from Ford, the owner of Scarsdale Ford and automotive instructors from Rockland Community College were at the school to unveil the new program.

Students in Mount Vernon's automotive program are going to be interning at Scarsdale Ford. They will then be able to get right to work as technicians while working on their applied sciences degrees at Rockland Community College.

Earle Mitchell, a Mount Vernon alumnus who develops talent for Ford, says the benefits run both ways.

The pipeline helps students make careers, and it also helps ford replenish its workforce over time with tech-savvy workers.

Mitchell says the average age of a Ford technician is 55.

"So we really need this opportunity. The students are needed. Their expertise is needed. Ford is really dedicated to making sure they have the expertise to work on our cars," he says. 

And when students come to intern at Scarsdale Ford, they'll have a lot of the training done.

Ford is even providing a new Mustang Mach-E to the auto-shop class to learn on.

"I think, through the program, you really find out who has that interest, you know, who really wants to work on those cars," says Mitchell.