“The fact that I could graduate in six months was important to me, because I could earn the diploma and get a job as fast as possible.”
 

—NVI student Jonathan Johnson

“My favorite thing about NVI is all the instructors and how helpful they are and how engaging the learning is. We're not just in the classroom, we're in the shop, working on cars, breaking things down, putting things back together. So it's a lot of fun.”

 

— NVI student Justin Smith

“After I got out of the Air Force, I wasn't really planning on going back to school, but this just seemed like such a great opportunity. I couldn't pass it up!”

 

—NVI student Matthew Dalton

“You get a lot of one-on-one instruction when you need it. And you have the textbook, the lecture and hands-on instruction in the lab. So no matter how you really learn, you get it all. And NVI is really great at helping students find a job.”

 

—NVI student Matthew Dalton

“NVI's transformed my life in many ways. They've not only developed my skills as a mechanic, but they've also made me more comfortable in dealing with people and situations I'll encounter in this industry.”

 

—NVI diesel graduate Patrick Baker

Father of seven changes life with NVI education

 

 

 

 

 

Brandon Patterson, 34, spent 16 years working jobs he didn’t like. 

 

He finally had an epiphany. 

 

He always enjoyed working on cars but had never formally studied vehicle maintenance. He found NVI Institute Blairsville in Pennsylvania through a web search. A couple of conversations later, he was on his way to a life-changing course of study he completed in six months at NVI, the nation’s largest campus dedicated to auto and diesel tech training.

 

Patterson left the daily drudgery of jobs he didn’t like behind.

 

“I had come to a point in my life where I was just tired of dead-end jobs that were leading nowhere,” Patterson says. “It was time to do what I wanted to do.” 

 

“I don't want to go to work every day at a job that I don't like,” Brandon explains. “I don't want to have a career that's meaningless and pointless. So, it was a leap of faith, really. I came back to school at age 34.”

 

The father of seven graduated from NVI in June. He now works for Thomas Automotive.

 

Tinkering with toys leads to education, career

 

Patterson came into his studies at the nation’s largest auto and diesel tech campus with a running start. He had explored his mechanical interests as a youth by working on his toys. Later, he turned to full-size cars.

 

“I don’t think I ever owned a toy that I didn’t tear apart and put back together at least once or twice. I've always been a backyard mechanic. I’ve always had a passion for fixing cars,” Patterson recalls.

 

Brandon and his wife, a licensed practical nurse, had a good life going before NVI, but not a lot of money for extras like family vacations.

 

“We’re to the point in life where we want to give our kids more than we had growing up,” Brandon says. “We want to be able to go on family vacations. We want to not have to worry about, “Oh, man, the car broke down, now what?’ Well, now I can fix it and now we’re going to have the money so I can fix it.”

 

With the support of his wife, Brandon balanced his kid-raising duties with his auto technology studies. “Thank God for my loving wife who has been supporting me through this whole thing,” Patterson says. 

 

They made it work. And now, he’s beginning work in a new field with solid employment opportunities and family-supporting wages and benefits. 

​

A Life Transformed

 

NVI improved his life in many ways.

 

“NVI has transformed my life in ways that I never thought possible,” Patterson says.  

“It's brought my confidence back up. It's made me realize that I'm something more than just a clock in, clock out guy. It's made me realize that I can do what I want to do and make a career out of it.”