Brickner’s Park City highlights local talent pipeline with recent NTC graduates, YA Program

At Brickner’s Park City in Merrill, the future of the automotive workforce is already hard at work. The dealership recently hired two 2026 graduates of the Northcentral Technical College (NTC) automotive technician program, turning former part-time team members and Youth Apprenticeship Program (YA) participants into full-time professionals.
Owner Jim Brickner recognizes the vital importance of investing in local youth programs to build his team, noting that his future workforce is currently sitting behind desks at local high schools and technical colleges. Brickner’s currently employs two high school apprentices and routinely keeps between one and four on staff. When young workers eventually leave to pursue other trades — such as heavy equipment or electrical work — Brickner views it positively, referring to it as “retiring” out of the Express Lane rather than quitting. He embraces this turnover, noting that “the sooner you identify what you don’t want to do, the faster you can get busy at what you do want to do and don’t waste your life.” When an apprentice “retires” onto their next step in life, it simply opens the door for one or two new apprentices to begin filling that spot.
“Our Express Lane gives us the opportunity to have young men and women ... from the high school [Youth] Apprenticeship Program come and work in the lane,” Brickner said. “They start out changing oil, learning how to inspect cars, and they move up, filter up to the [service] writing position.”
For Brickner, the investment pays off when he finds long-term fits for his shop. “I may see 15 kids come through and ... one or maybe two out of those 15 that come through ... we then retain [and] keep them in our organization to fill spots,” he said.
One of those success stories is Christian Gilbert, a 2024 Merrill High School graduate who completed his two-year YA right at Brickner’s. After receiving encouragement from Brickner to pursue a two-year degree, Gilbert attended NTC, where he received the sole outstanding graduate award for the automotive program when he graduated from the program this year. Now a full-time auto technician at Brickner’s Park City, Gilbert aims to reach Master Technician status. He notes that he is currently at the “bottom of the totem pole,” because he still needs to complete his Mopar training, but he is “slowly fighting at that” to get it done and achieve his goal.

When asked what he would tell high school students considering the YA Program, Gilbert said: “100%, do it. I mean, it teaches just so many valuable life skills and I mean, you even get out of school for a couple hours and you’ll make money. I would 100% push for it as much as you can.”
Gilbert said he loves working at Brickner’s Park City and was happy to be hired there full-time. He highlighted the positive culture and work environment. “Everybody’s so nice,” he said. “Everybody’s willing to help you ... All around, it’s just the perfect place to work, honestly.”
Zachary Morris, also a 2024 Merrill High School graduate and 2026 NTC graduate, took a slightly different path to the dealership. After completing a YA at Walmart, Morris realized he wanted to be around cars but preferred customer interaction over turning wrenches. He joined Brickner’s as a part-time employee and now works as a full-time service writer for the Express Lane. In this role, Morris oversees two youth apprentices who perform the actual oil changes, while he focuses on interpreting vehicle issues for the customers.
Morris credits his NTC education with helping him bridge the gap between mechanical work and customer service, allowing him to explain what parts are, how they work, and why they need replacing so he can better serve customers. His long-term goal is to become a main shop service writer, a move he is ready to make as soon as someone is hired to fill his current Express Lane position.
Like Gilbert, Morris loves the work culture at Brickner’s. “I like the atmosphere of the place and all the people and stuff,” Morris said. “And I like being able to talk to customers and that whole sort of thing. And this place offers that for me.”
Through the YA and NTC, Brickner’s Park City has successfully fostered a reliable local pipeline, ensuring that young talent stays in Merrill while receiving the hands-on education needed to thrive in the automotive industry.