RATHDRUM — Only Oprah Winfrey could have said it better — "KTEC, you get a car!"

The announcement came Thursday morning when representatives from Ford Motor Company visited the Kootenai Technical Education Campus for the inaugural TechDrive Kick-Off Event. The event celebrated the new relationship between KTEC, Mike White Ford of Coeur d’Alene and the local high schools.

"I honestly think it’s really cool because where I used to live in Wyoming, we never got these opportunities," said KTEC junior Marx Cadwalader. "I think it’s really cool we’re being sponsored by a Ford company and we’re even getting a free car for it that we get to work on. It’s a really cool opportunity to be able to get into this type of field and this type schooling."

Cadwalader and his classmates peeked under the hoods of brand new Ford vehicles and heard from Mike White Ford service manager Ed Baker and Ford Motor Company regional technical talent placement specialist Joe Long, who both informed the students of the Ford Automotive Career Exploration program as well as job shadowing and internship opportunities that will help them further their careers.

The car, which will be a 2014 or '15 Fiesta or Focus, will be donated to KTEC for students to explore and work on during class.

Mike White Ford lube tech Sage Martin graduated last year and was able to quickly move into a position with the dealership because of her experience while still in high school.

"I went and job shadowed and from there they asked me if I want to work there," said Martin, of Post Falls. "I started out as a service porter, parking cars, things like that. About two months ago I got moved into the lube bay, doing oil changes and everything. It was a really great opportunity; I didn't know I'd get hired out of it. I was just going to see how a dealership worked, because I'd never been to one before."

She said she recommends for students to take advantage of the offers they get while in high school — "Don't be afraid to look at different things," she said. "And take class seriously. You do learn a lot in what little time we have in the shop here."

Haley Baggins, director of Mike White Ford culture, training and development, said it's encouraging to see the students so interested in potential careers with Mike White.

"We have a lot of people coming to the dealership for jobs because we're a larger dealership, we're one of the biggest employers in Kootenai County and that's something that we're proud of," she said. "Seeing that we have younger people come on and they start working with us and developing their culture, developing their skills, it's absolutely wonderful."

"It's a great partnership we've formed with Mike White by allowing our students to go over and job shadow and really get that hands-on," said KTEC director Colby Mattila. "They get to go into production shops and see if that's what they really want to do. Corporate Ford has been awesome to work with. They really stepped up and helped Mike White to supply us with the vehicle. We couldn't be happier."