Much like the vehicles repaired each day at the Facilities and Services garage, Shawn Patterson, garage foreman, is wired to keep moving forward.
He started at the U. of I. five years ago as a building service worker.
But in just four months, Patterson, who was lead master technician for 16 years at a local vehicle dealership, found more familiar territory in a position that had opened in the F&S garage.
In less than two years, following a few retirements and with his career transmission in "drive," he was managing the place.
"The dealership was a stressful, money-driven environment and I needed to go in a different direction," he said.
Patterson has tooled around under the hoods of automobiles for most of his life, a trait passed down from various family members.
"Somebody in my family was always working on something, and I always took the automotive classes in high school," he said. "Being around it so much just sparked my interest."
Taking advanced auto courses and earning an associate's degree at Parkland College after high school forever changed the way Patterson approached vehicles and led to his decision to repair them professionally.
"The classes made me think, 'This is more than it seems,' " he said. "It really opened my eyes."
He said Parkland prepared him well to be a technician - but once he started working in a commercial repair shop, he soon learned how much he didn't know.
"Parkland was good because they gave me the fundamentals and the thought process," he said. "I had good information but it was a matter of perfecting it in the field. Real-life experience is where you can perfect your profession."
During that time, Patterson also taught mechanic classes at Parkland College, something that allowed him to bring some of that real-life experience back into the classroom. It was an experience he's glad he didn't miss.
"I thought I could (teach), but they still had to kind of talk me into it," he said.
He said the biggest change he has seen during his career has been the computerization of vehicles and the diagnostic tools used to find problems.
But the mechanics of vehicle hasn't changed that much from his younger days, when unrepaired cars used to sit in Patterson's driveway.
"The same basic mechanical aspects I learned as a kid are still in the car today," he said. "The piston we have today is the same one we had 25 years ago."
As foreman of the campus garage, Patterson doesn't get to work on vehicles as much as he used to. His job now includes completing payroll and paperwork, poring over work orders and communicating with vendors.
"I deal with all of the headaches that come along with the business," he said.
The garage operates with 27 full-time employees working in two shifts, with oil changes, tire rotations and routine maintenance work completed at night. The day shift works on the more complicated repairs. The department includes a full-line body shop as well.
In all, the technicians are responsible for servicing more than 1,200 vehicles and pieces of equipment in the garage's 21 repair bays.
"They work on everything from small pieces of equipment to end-loaders," he said. "Anything on campus with a combustible engine, we work on it."
When the weather turns cold, snow-removal equipment becomes the top priority.
"I am very fortunate to have the group of employees I have here," he said. "It's a close-knit group and I can depend on every one of them."
Patterson, who has a 2-year-old daughter, is working toward a general education bachelor's degree from Eastern Illinois University in a program run through Parkland using a combination of evening and online course work.
"I've taken classes my entire life," he said. "I always put myself in the position of bettering myself."
He recently stepped down as the volunteer fire chief in Seymour, Ill., after deciding to move his family to Philo. He was with the department for 16 years, and, not surprisingly, worked his way from the bottom rank to the top.
Patterson said he'll miss the chief's post, but "family comes first, and sometimes you have to move on," he said.