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March 18, 2021From BOCES Graduate To Business Owner in Three Years!
From BOCES graduate to business owner – that’s the path for a local woman building a growing footprint in the world of automotive repair.
In 2017, Victoria Carl graduated from the Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical School Diesel Technology program and Voorheesville High School. A little more than three short years later, she has two college degrees and owns her own repair shop with a staff of five and a growing business profile.
“BOCES is where I really found my passion. I always worked on cars and that, but BOCES I where I got into trucks and gained knowledge and really solidified what I wanted to do,” said Carl.
March is Women’s History Month and throughout the month, Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical School will be shining a spotlight on women in the trades – those women who are challenging gender stereotypes and building solid futures through their time at Capital Region BOCES. Victoria Carl is among those to be profiled.
Carl along with her mom Katy are equal owners of Carl’s Advanced Automotive & Truck Repair Center, located at 14 Drywall Lane in Voorheesville, which the duo purchased last year. They will shortly be adding a high performance engine and detailing shop across the street, that Victoria will tap her brother to run the day-to-day operations.
The three-year sprint from high school graduate to business owner has been an amazing journey, Carl said. “Right after I graduated, I went to UNOH (University of Northwest Ohio) and got dual associate degrees in agricultural diesel technology and diesel tech. I actually worked on a farm there milking cows every day. I finished the two-year programs in a year-and-a-half and came back home where I had a lot of different job offers lined up,” she said. Carl said it was because of Capital Region BOCES and its partnerships with a multitude of area businesses that she had so many job offers and ended up choosing to work with Albany Truck Sales.
“Jackie from Albany Truck Sales had been in contact with me basically ever since I started at BOCES and I just had to go with her,” she said. From there, the opportunity arose to purchase a repair shop in her hometown and she said she just had to go with it.
“We jumped on it – it was something I couldn’t turn down,” Carl said.
Capital Region BOCES Business Liaison Nancy Liddle said Victoria was “a great student who is very motivated.”
Teacher Sam Frink concurred.
He also noted that she “is a rarity in the world of big rig repair.”
Indeed, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, of the 339,000 diesel mechanics employed nationally, fewer than 1 percent are female. Even less own their own businesses.
She said the opportunity to spread her wings and learn the business at BOCES – as well as industry expectations for what a diesel mechanic looks and acts like – has meant the world to her and directly led her to where she is now, as well as her future business growth. “BOCES meant everything to me. I found my passion there and a lot of my business partners I met at BOCES and I work with,” she said.
Recruitment for the 2021-22 school year is underway. Anyone interested in information on attending our Diesel Tech or any of our programs, go to https://www.capitalregionboces.org/visit-career-and-technical-ed/.
