What I’ve Learned: Henry King

Henry King, age 30, began his taking classes at Austin Community College in the fall of 1998. He studied in the Automotive department at the Riverside campus, and in the midst of going to school he started a small automotive repair business that he has steadily cultivated. King graduated in May of 2003 with a degree in Applied Science Automotive Technology and he continues to remain the sole proprietor of his company, Hulk Automotive, and is an assistant professor of the same degree that he pursued at ACC Riverside campus.

I began schooling at ACC as a music major, but when I realized that I was interested in Automotive (mechanics), I just began with one class and went from there.

[Instructor Chuck Estrada] made students get involved in the projects when they usually wouldn't have wanted to. He had this ability to make a boring subject interesting and gave students the ammunition to think outside of the box.

It's been a while since I've been there, but when I was there it was about the community aspect. Everyone around me wanted to learn and progress their own life goals, whether it be to learn something about a topic or become a professional in a certain field.

After our lab was out, the guys in my group would brainstorm on ideas to get the tough problems knocked out. We would talk about questions and further each other along.

I made a lot of friends that I continue to keep contact with to this day.

The amazing thing about teaching at ACC is that the relationship between the teacher and the student is very one-on-one. You can pin the instructor down and ask them the tough questions and they didn't hesitate to answer them or at least try to the best of their abilities.

The principle of, ‘this is the science, now go and apply it,' that I learned at ACC is how I run my business and how I live my life.

There is always room for improvement, but going from an environment where you're doing work on the side and don't have any tools to a place like ACC where I could analyze things scientifically in an environment that had the proper tools was integral to my success.

My most memorable experience was me fighting with the fundamental concept of "voltage drop." This concept was the last thing I really had to battle before I could get my associate degree and it was really confusing me. I continued for four weeks to ask my professor the same question in an attempt to understand, and when he finally explained it in a way that made sense, it was like everything clicked and everything from then on was easy. It was an epiphany and a beautiful thing.

I had a class ending at Northridge campus at 4:30, and another started at Pinnacle at 5:00. That was a bad semester.

Students in general should dabble around, because you'll never know what you truly have a knack for if you don't. ACC doesn't restrict you from doing that, and the more that we progress as a society, the higher the standard of living will be. If you have a problem with communication, take a speech class. There is nothing wrong with taking classes to better yourself as a human.