William Derr

William Derr began his teaching career later on in life.

Derr, 53, left his job about 12 years ago as assistant manager at a Cadillac dealership to pursue a career in teaching. He had been in the auto-body industry since he was 18.

He first began teaching after he hired two young men to work for him in the mid-1990s. Expecting entry-level skills, he was surprised to discover all the experience they had in the field.

“You usually don’t expect too much from entry-level employees. But these guys went to a school and became extremely talented, so I was interested to know where they learned all their skills,” said Derr, who lives in the Falls area and has two daughters and a son, all in their 20s.

He began to conduct research and eventually decided to teach a program on automotive collision repair and refinishing.

“It’s what I love to do — I’m teaching young folks to do what I love to do, just the way I learned it,” Derr said.

Currently, Derr teaches students ages 18 to 24 at the Homestead Job Corps Auto Collision Repair program. The Job Corps is a no-cost education and vocational training program, which is administered by the U.S. Department of Labor to help young people find careers, earn a high school diploma or GED, and find a job through vocational and academic training. It is funded by Congress and has been in effect since 1964.

He also teaches at the South Dade Adult Education Center and was selected as the nominee to represent adult education throughout the county.

“It’s all about the students,” he said. “That’s the way I conduct myself as a teacher. Every student who walks through the door is just another opportunity for success.”

Derr knows he’s exactly where he’s supposed to be, doing exactly what he’s meant to be doing.

“I think it’s in my blood. Everybody is good at something,” he said. “I found an aptitude for working with my hands. I remember playing with things with wheels and motors as a little boy, and it had a natural progression for me.”