Professor Britton Hill teaches a student how to perform a brake flush in the CTEC building on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026.  By: Jordan Soltz. 

Building a replica 1965 Shelby Daytona Coupe race car is one perk of being involved in the automotive technology program, with the project advised by automotive professor Britton Hill.  

“It’s a student-led [extracurricular] project that we started last fall,” said Hill. “And I would say, I mean, even myself, this is the first time I’ve ever built anything. My career was repairing vehicles.” 

In college, Hill looked into becoming a middle school educator, with interests in history and social sciences. But “through a whole turn of events,” as he put it, he became immersed in the automotive industry as a technician. 

“That was the majority of my career. One of my good friends, who is also a professor at JCCC, kind of talked to me about the possibility of becoming a professor and kind of introduced me to the chair of the [automotive technology] department here at JCCC,” Hill said.  

The interaction led Hill to start as part of the advisory committee for the department, and rising the ranks throughout the years to adjunct professor, part-time instructor, and full-time professor.  

As an educator in the automotive technology industry, Hill instructs a variety of students, all of whom have different reasons for taking the specialized courses.   

“We really do get a broad range of students who are interested. They might just want to learn more about their own car and be able to save themselves some money, and then we have students who have already decided this is what they want to do,” Hill said. “I would say that the majority of our students don’t have a full understanding of [what a] technician [does].”  

To gain that bigger picture understanding, Hill instructs with the intention of students taking initiative in their learning. During the interview, Hill stressed that motivation needs to come from within.   

“I want to support students in their learning, but the idea for me is not that I’m going to be able to give you everything you need to be an automotive technician,” Hill said.   

Hill mentioned that when reviewing course objectives with students on the first day, he encourages them to identify learning goals that will help them take responsibility throughout the semester.  

“For me, I will do whatever I can to help them achieve their objectives,” Hill said.  

It’s a teaching style carried over from his motivations working as a former automotive technician.  

“My motivation was never solely about money; it was about helping people. That was what got me up every morning. Transportation might be one of the most important things to people to get to school, to get to work, to take care of their families. So to me, fixing their car was a way that I could help do those things, my contribution,” said Hill.   

For former student Maxwell Rabold-Tamez, Hill’s teaching style was helpful to his learning.   

“He is very approachable and wants everyone to be able to learn. He understands that some students learn differently than others, and actively tries to engage with students that may be struggling so that he can help them reach their goals,” Rabold-Tamez wrote in an email.  

As someone interested in pursuing automotive technology, Rabold-Tamez wrote that Hill helped him enter the industry.   

“In my first course with him. He offered a job shadow at some local dealerships, and that is how I landed my first job in the industry,” Rabold-Tamez wrote.  

Even after graduating, Rabold-Tamez is still involved in the Type-65 race car project, taking on a leadership role, an experience he wrote has helped build his problem-solving skills.   

The race car build began last fall, with students gaining real-world experience through project development, research and development, marketing, etc., as they work to make the Daytona fully drivable.  

Hill said the project is more than just building; it’s navigating how to work with others as a team throughout the entire process.   

“And it’s not like a Lego: you don’t have a very clear set of instructions, and things don’t fit 

together perfectly,” said Hill. “A lot of things require modification or fabrication to make work. 

There’s learning in every aspect of the project.”  

An extracurricular like the Type-65 underscores the value of gaining real-world experience as a student to apply to a future career that may not always be touched on in class.  

“As a student, you have all kinds of obligations. Even though it’s a really, really cool project and there’s a lot of excitement about it, it’s still gonna be probably a little lower on the priority list. But at the same time, if people aren’t committed to doing their part, it can very quickly start to fall apart because there’s an order to things and things have to get done,” said Hill.  

It goes to show how important relationships are between students in the long run.   

“What’s really encouraging to me is the students who go through the full two years of the program, and by the end of those two years, they’re a pretty solid group. And they go out to different shops or different jobs and, often, they’re still in connection, and they’re still maintaining those connections,” said Hill.  

Hill supports students in their varied endeavors in automotive technology by emphasizing the value of independent learning, relationships, and helping others through instruction and real-world learning.  

Professor and Department Chair of Automotive Technology Jack Ireland had this to say in an email about Hill:  

“Professor Hill is committed to a positive experience for our students. Additionally, he is willing to do the “heavy lifting” that is needed in the day-to-day operations of a Career and Technical Education program and I am grateful that he is a part of the Automotive Technology team,” Ireland wrote.