Recent Gehlen Catholic grad Devin Christoffel stands by his truck, which he works on himself. He will be attending Hawkeye Community College this fall to become a mechanic. [Click to enlarge]

This is the sixth and final story in a series looking at what plans and dreams local members of the graduating class of 2008 hope to pursue.

Devin Christoffel, a 2008 Gehlen Catholic High School graduate, has loved one pastime his entire life -- and he's sticking with it.

Christoffel will be attending Hawkeye Community College in Waterloo this fall to study automotive technologies to become a mechanic.

The program will take two years, with a possible third to study the electrical mechanics of the car's computer, he said.

For as long as Devin can remember, he's wanted to work on cars.

"We have pictures of me in preschool working under a play car. There wasn't even a motor," chuckled Christoffel.

Devin's father, Dean Christoffel, passed his love of cars onto his son at a young age. The other people around him did little to deter that.

"I've wanted to be a mechanic since I was a little kid," Devin said. "My best friend's dad worked at Nuebel Chevrolet in town, so we would always go there and look around. My dad really got me into the whole thing, all of the other people just influenced me and helped me."

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Dean Christoffel's expertise is in body work, but Devin says he's more interested in going under the hood. Much of that is due to the mechanics class he took the past two years in school.

"Since I was in junior high, I thought I would like to work with hands-on mechanics," Christoffel said. "Then my junior and senior year of high school I took a class at the community school taught by Paul Fischer in the Trades and Industry building that almost got closed down. That's when I really knew this was for me."

Devin said his favorite project in the class was tearing apart an engine then putting it back together to make sure it started.

Aside from the mechanics class, Devin was also involved in golf and bowling at Gehlen. He is currently involved in Boy Scouts for the summer and also works at Wal-Mart in the tire and lube department, another opportunity for him to get some more experience before college.

"The training wasn't too intense to work there, but I've been working on cars for a while," Christoffel said. "I had an old car that was always falling apart, so I worked on it a lot. I actually got in a car accident in it, but my dad and I put it back together. He taught me how to bondo and do more of the body work."

Bondo is a two-way putty for the cosmetic repair of dents in cars, yet another skill taught to Christoffel by his father.

After Devin graduates from college, he wants to get right into mechanics, but he's not sure yet on the details, like where he would want to work. All he really wants is to continue to do what he loves.

"I like working with GM and Chevy," Devin said. "Wherever it takes me, I'm not too picky."