As part of an assignment in his Advanced Academic Literacies (AAL) class at Voorhees High School with teacher Sarah Hall, freshman Avery Van Hassel of High Bridge was asked to choose a career field, research the steps and skills necessary for the career, and then write a letter to a professional in that field.\u00a0 Avery chose Automotive Engineer and chose to write his letter to Mr. Dave Pericak, the Chief Engineer of the Ford Mustang, after reading that his dream was to own a Mustang and now he is in charge of designing the iconic muscle car.\u00a0 To Avery\u2019s disappointment, Mr. Pericak did not write back right away.\u00a0 Instead Mr. Pericak took a different route.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He contacted Principal Dave Steffan and set up a surprise Skype session with Avery during his AAL class on November 2. Avery was in shock at the surprise and his response to meeting Mr. Pericak through the web was \u201cOh my god, this is great!\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Pericak said Avery\u2019s letter \u201creally resonated with him\u201d as Avery shows the same passion as he has for cars and he felt a letter in return was not enough.\u00a0 Avery, coincidentally wearing a Ford Mustang T-Shirt, sat down and asked Mr. Pericak the questions he posed in his letter, such as how did you get to where you are today, what\u2019s it like to have the job you do, whether he had been designing cars since he was young, and how do you deal with conflicting opinions about the design of the car.\u00a0 Mr. Pericak told Avery and the entire class that to succeed and do what you love you need to gain the \u201cnecessary education, have tenacity, do not let go of what you want, and follow your dream.\u201d\u00a0 Pericak said he loves his job and the chance to interact with \u201cthe thousands of engineers it takes to create one car.\u201d\u00a0 He also reminded students that \u201cconflict of opinions can lead to great creative ideas\u201d so learn how to break down the variety of opinions and concentrate on a couple.\u00a0 He also added that he has been drawing cars and working on them with his father since he was very young.\u00a0<\/p>\n