Long-Time Lake Braddock Auto Tech Teachers Mentor New Generation Of Students

BURKE, VA — Two long-time automotive technology teachers in Fairfax County Public Schools, who have been best friends since attending South Lakes High School in the 1980s, remain enthusiastic about teaching their students, especially in a time when auto technicians are needed more than ever.

With more than 50 years of combined teaching experience, Dominic Prakash and David Plum are the lead automotive technology teachers at Lake Braddock Secondary High School in Burke. They teach classes to students who want to learn the basics of automotive maintenance or students who are considering a career as an auto technician or in a related trade.

Plum joined the teaching staff at Lake Braddock in 1996. Three years later, he convinced Prakash to apply for an open auto technician teaching position. They’ve led the auto tech program at Lake Braddock ever since.

One of the best parts of teaching the auto technology classes at Lake Braddock is when former students come back to visit or send emails thanking them for their courses, Prakash and Plum said in an interview with Patch. Former students have returned to tell them that their courses changed their lives and let them know about their successful careers in the automotive technology field.

Whether someone is college-bound or aiming for a future career as an auto technician, Prakash and Plum keep their students’ best interests at heart.

Many students have gone onto to work in the automatic technology field, while others used the coursework offered by Prakash and Plum to pursue studies in engineering in college or other trade careers — like certified electricians — where automotive theory and repair can help them advance in their field.

One of Plum's former students at Lake Braddock, Laura Garcia, is now a full-time faculty member in the automotive technology program at Northern Virginia Community College.

“He always let me go as far as I could on a repair job on my own before intervening to help,” Garcia said of Plum’s teaching style. “This helped me to be a more self-sufficient automotive professional and gave me the self-confidence to do so.”

After graduating from Lake Braddock, Garcia entered into the NOVA Automotive Cooperative education program. As a student at NOVA, she was hired during her first job interview at Cowles Ford in Woodbridge, and ended up graduating summa cum laude in her class at NOVA.

Garcia, who has been a full-time faculty member at NOVA for more than six years, recalls Plum’s sense of humor and direct communication.

“The culture he built in the classroom was very much like a real shop environment and is what inspired me to continue in the field since I felt I found my place in the world,” she told Patch.

From South Lakes To Lake Braddock

Plum and Prakash first met in an FCPS auto class when they were students at South Lakes High School in Reston in the 1980s.

Both fondly remember Buddy Young, their auto shop teacher at South Lakes High. “He was such a good mentor — the reason I got up and went to school in those days was for auto shop class. I knew that was there for me, and it made getting through the day a bit easier,” Plum said in an interview with the FCPS communications team.

After graduating from school, Plum and Prakash eventually became lead automotive technicians at Saturn and Chevrolet dealerships in Northern Virginia.

Plum then took advice from his father, FCPS teacher and school administrator Ken Plum of the Plum Center for Lifelong Learning, and decided to give teaching a try in 1996, when he was hired by FCPS. Three years later, the long-time Lake Braddock auto teacher who was working with Plum retired and Prakash was hired for the job.

“Anybody who knew us growing up would see the idea of the two of us teaching together as ridiculous,” Prakash told FCPS communications.

Over the years, though, Prakash and Plum have alerted their colleagues in the auto tech field to teaching openings in the automotive technology programs at FCPS high schools.

According to a recent study, a shortage of 642,000 technicians is expected by 2024. Changes in young people's mindset on driving and car culture are contributing to the shortage in auto technicians.

FCPS is doing its part to give students an opportunity to learn more about the basics of car repairs or pursue a career as an auto technician in a world where vehicles are becoming more computerized.

The school system has automotive technology programs at Lake Braddock Secondary School and a dozen other schools in the county: Annandale High School, Centreville High School, Chantilly Academy, Edison Academy, Fairfax High School, Falls Church High School, Hayfield High School, John R. Lewis High School, Marshall Academy, Robinson Secondary School, South County High School and South Lakes High School.

Along with the positive feedback from current and former students, the teaching style of Plum and Prakash is admired by their fellow teachers at Lake Braddock.

Mark Khosravi, a geosystems teacher at Lake Braddock, told FCPS communications that Plum and Prakash share "valuable skills and knowledge they’ve accumulated since high school themselves."

“When kids see that passion in teachers, they will also have that passion in the classroom,” Khosravi said.