PUHI — Kiare Alejandro, a senior at Waimea High School, will be part of the graduates making the big walk June 5, according to Glen Alquiza, the Kaua‘i Community College Auto Body Technology instructor. “She’s never painted a car in
PUHI — Kiare Alejandro, a senior at Waimea High School, will be part of the graduates making the big walk June 5, according to Glen Alquiza, the Kaua‘i Community College Auto Body Technology instructor.
“She’s never painted a car in her life, but said if she’s to walk at graduation, she needs to have the car painted by Friday,” Alquiza said.
Alejandro arrived at the KCC Auto Technology facility on Tuesday afternoon with a Toyota pick-up belonging to Ka‘iwi Machado.
“This is part of my senior project,” Alejandro said. “We have to get it done, or we’re not graduating. Everyone has to do a project.”
Alejandro said the Waimea students have been working under the direction of the English department to get the senior projects completed because the individual presentations have already started taking place.
“There was a girl who built a computer from scratch,” Alquiza said. “That was the biggest project I could tell. There were also a lot of photography projects.”
She said painting a car was just something that she felt she should do since the project said it had to involve something you’ve never done in your life.
“I worked with Bobby Saligumba at the school and he helped me by telling me what I needed to do to get the truck ready for painting,” Alejandro said. “We didn’t have to patch, but we had to sand down the truck, primer it, smooth it and finish it by wet sanding.”
She said the project had to involve at least 15 hours, and once it is complete, you face a panel of people where you present your project.
Alquiza said when he heard about the project, it was so she could walk with her classmates.
Drawing on the help of Tante Azares, another Automotive Technology instructor at KCC, and auto body students Vernon Dela Cruz and Steven Cardinez, the group worked with Alejandro to get her ready to walk at graduation.
Using the special painting booth at the Automotive Technology facility, the pick-up was left overnight for masking and final preparations before Alejandro would handle the spray gun.
“The booth cost about $500,000 and features a carbon monoxide detecting system, filtering system and is pressurized in addition to being able to adjust the temperature for ideal drying conditions,” Alquiza said. “The high schools don’t have the kind of budget that allow them to have a booth that meets the safety specifications.”
Painting was more than adding paint in the spray gun, Alejandro discovered, her street clothes now covered in a special coverall for the task at hand.
“You need to be precise when you add the reducer,” Aquiza said. “If you’re off, the paint won’t dry properly. Sometimes, it won’t dry at all.”
A lot of the technology surrounding the auto body training is governed by computers, Alquiza said.
“It’s a far cry from when we were learning. Today, everything is computerized — down to measuring out the paint and being able to color match, taking into account the natural weathering,” he said.
As the pressurized systems kicked in, conversation turned to concentrating on getting the truck painted to its new Super White replacing the original white that showed its age.
“The old paint is below the tailgate, and you can tell the difference,” Machado said while watching Alejandro work her magic from outside the booth.
Cardinez said the paint she selected is a one-pass with no option for clear coat. That meant the paint only needed to be applied in a single coat and would have a sheen without the need for having a clear coat added.
“I was trying to get her to check into an automotive technology career,” Alquiza said. “We had several girls in the program before and because automotive technology for females is a non-traditional course of study, she can get a lot of financial help and tools. These are the best tools, too.”
Alquiza said one of his graduates has his own business and all he does is paint cars for a living.
“He makes more than I do,” Alquiza said. “If you learn the trade well, anything is possible.”
• Dennis Fujimoto, photographer and staff writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 253) or dfujimoto@kauaipubco.com