While Jeep has a fondness for working with students, the opportunity to work with the automaker at such a young age is still a rare one. The inclusion of SEMA to this equation only further establishes the honor. Fortunately, the ECO Auto Tech School in Santa Fe, New Mexica is holding just such an event.

At the school, students are working on a 2015 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited as part of their course work. The Specialty Equipment Market Association, with more than 20 sponsors, donated the Jeep, special parts, supplies and hands-on instruction for the magnet-school project, which started in 2017. Since then, the students have been customizing the build as best they could in order to sell it this June. The money made will fund the next project.

Chris Coriz, instructor for the class at the Santa Fe Early College Opportunities Applied Science Magnet School, had this to say.

“We partnered up with SEMA, which is just a huge opportunity for us, the school and the community. We had been talking for about a year about how we could come up with something new and innovative to help students and just keep the auto industry rolling.”


This is a fantastic program and an even better way for students to get hands-on experience with automotive engineering. For a full list of the Jeep project sponsors and other information, visit the program website.