This November, ten Walla Walla University technology majors with concentrations in automotive service and automotive management spent three days in Las Vegas, Nevada, attending the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show. As the largest automotive aftermarket trade event in the world, this event reliably hosts a variety of educational seminars, shows an impressive display of automotive products and customized vehicles, and facilitates unique networking opportunities for students with thousands of companies.

Since 2006, the SEMA Show trip has been a unique chance for WWU automotive students to interact with industry leaders and expand their horizons beyond their local sphere. Rob Holm, professor and chair of the Department of Technology, led the trip this year. He said students benefit from the incredible creativity, craftsmanship, and professionalism on show each year, “which results in opening their minds to the reasons we stress such high levels of competence in our automotive program.”

The convention is a graduation requirement for automotive service and automotive management students. While they explore the SEMA Show, students are asked to interact with several participating companies, many of whom are represented by the owners, CEOs, and principals themselves. Students must also attend various educational seminars, ranging in topic from how to leverage AI in your daily shop operations, to upcoming Environmental Protection Agency regulations and how manufacturers are complying with them, to LinkedIn profile and resume optimization.

Holm believes that attending the conventions provides an ideal glimpse of the immense opportunities available to students within the industry, and provides a helpful step toward life after graduation.

To learn more about the Department of Technology, go to wallawalla.edu/technology.

Posted Jan. 6, 2025