Ervey Rojas        

Former Rising Star Scholar
Automotive Technology Graduate, Brookhaven College

Growing up, Ervey Rojas never thought he would have the opportunity to go to college.

A DCCCD Rising Star scholarship allowed him to learn the latest diagnostic skills to become a more successful mechanic, and earn a college degree. Ervey graduated from Brookhaven College in 2007 with an associate degree and four individual certificates in automotive technology.

“Getting the Rising Star scholarship helped me through the whole college experience,” he says. “But even more than that, it also gave me confidence. I wouldn’t have made it without it.” Ervey was about to graduate from Brookhaven when his father’s employer moved out of town; suddenly both were looking for jobs as auto mechanics.

Today, Ervey and his father Estéban are co-owners of their own automotive repair shop, Roca Automotive, near downtown Dallas. They do general mechanic work on all types of cars, both domestic and foreign.

 “I always wanted to work with cars, and was always helping my dad,” says Ervey. “But I also use all of the skills I learned in Brookhaven’s program on the job. Automotive work is all about finding problems and solving them, and no day is ever the same. It keeps work interesting.”

Ervey occasionally talks to area high school automotive students about the importance of going to college and learning a skill that will land them a good job. “I tell them, ‘There’s a future for you. Go for it,’” he says.

“Thanks to the help I got from a Rising Star scholarship, I got a college education and the chance to start my own business,” says Ervey. “In my own way, I can help make a difference in my community.”

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