Henderson Hyundai makes donation to Basic Academy automotive program

Henderson Hyundai Superstore has donated more than 1,000 vehicle parts, valued at over $72,000, to the automotive program at Basic Academy of International Studies in Henderson. The donation, which is the largest in the school’s automotive program’s history, will help students gain valuable knowledge of current automotive maintenance processes.

Henderson Hyundai also will hold a special career day this year for the school’s graduating auto students to help with interview skills and job placement.

“Anytime we can get a donation, it helps the program, but we’ve never had a donation like this before,” said Ron Lapratt, Basic Academy’s automotive instructor. “Seeing this new equipment really helps us stay up to speed with the newer stuff that’s available these days. We’re really happy for the support.”

The donation includes engine parts, electronic components, body and trim pieces. Altogether, the parts have a value of $72,810. While Henderson Hyundai has made other contributions of parts to various organizations in the past, this donation is the largest in their 16-year history.

Henderson Hyundai owner Frank Maione said the donation came about following a routine parts inventory count at the dealership. While redundant or unnecessary parts would normally be sold online, the team wanted to do something more this time. The topic of nearby Basic’s automotive program came into the discussion, and Maione quickly made the decision to donate them.

“We wanted to do something meaningful with these parts rather than just sell them online, and Basic is our local high school,” said Frank Maione, owner of Henderson Hyundai. “We have people on our team from Basic, so this opportunity made a lot of sense for everyone. It makes me very happy that we can have a positive impact on such a great program.”

Lapratt said the program generally receives one or two donations of parts or vehicles per year. Due to the nature of most of these donations, his students normally work with older, out-of-date vehicles and parts. The equipment donated by Henderson Hyundai will be used to help more than 200 students in the program gain better real-world knowledge of modern vehicle maintenance.

Basic Academy’s automotive program covers eight key sections of automotive maintenance: engine, transmission, manual transmission, air conditioning, electrical, brakes, steering and safety. The program aims to teach students hands-on skills in all of these areas, such as how to perform oil changes, and repair or replace brakes, belts and hoses.