A high school student in Paducah, Kentucky, has already launched himself into the beginnings of an automotive career, the Paducah Sun reports.

Bennett Wilke is a senior at Paducah Tilghman High School who has recently been named the Associated General Contractors of Western Kentucky Technical Center’s Student of the Week. 

Wilke is in his third year in the Auto Maintenance Light Repair program at the Paducah Area Technology Center and has earned a plethora of Student Automotive Service Excellence certifications, including electrical systems, manual drive train and axles, brakes, engine performance, maintenance and light repair, as well as a Computer-Aided Design Certification from the Certified Solidworks Associate.

Wilke said he’s had an interest in automotive technology since he was a kid because of his grandpa, who had an avid interest in the subject. Whenever his grandfather was working on a project, Wilke was right there with him.

As a 12-year-old, he saved up money from mowing lawns to purchase an old jet ski that he worked to rebuild. As a sophomore in high school, Wilke decided to join the Auto Maintenance pathway at Paducah ATC, where he has continued to excel.

Wilke has also held a summer job at True Green Tech in 2022 and as of April 2021 is employed as an oil technician at Coad Toyota. He plans to attend the Automotive Technology High-Performance program at the Lincoln College of Technology in Nashville, Tennessee after he graduates high school.

“I’d say my biggest motivator is the joy you get from it,” Wilkes stated. “When you’re building your own car, and you finally get that thing done, you start it, and it runs, and it’s fast, and it’s powerful, just the joy you get from knowing you did that yourself, and you didn’t buy it that way.”