Steve and Sharon Huling

In recognition for more than 30 years of support for South Seattle Community College, the college is honoring the Huling family, of West Seattle, in the naming of an expanded and remodeled automotive technology training facility.

The trustees of the Seattle Community Colleges will name the facility the Steve and Sharon Huling Automotive Center.  The new center will ensure that students work with tools and equipment that closely match current industry standards.

“We deeply appreciate the Hulings for their generous, long-time support for the college,” said Jill Wakefield, Chancellor of the Seattle Community Colleges and former South President.  “Their on-going partnership with the college has resulted in nearly $2 million in equipment, funds and other support, which has advanced and improved the training opportunities for our automotive students.”

The remodeled automotive center will have shop bays to accommodate 27 vehicles, compared to the current 18, said Jean Hernandez, South Interim President, and have eight classrooms, five of which will be adjacent to shops.  The center will have a 24% increase in space to 45,590 square feet, allowing the college to serve an additional 80 students. Construction is scheduled to be completed in 2016.

The Huling family’s generosity toward the college has included donating more than $200,000 worth of vehicles and equipment for automotive training, said Elizabeth Pluhta, Executive Director of Advancement and Foundation.  Steve Huling also encouraged employees from his former auto dealerships to serve as short-term instructors at South, she said, helping students know the real working world, and has provided student internships at his dealerships that often led to full-time employment. He also was a sponsor in the General Motors Marketing Internship program.

Under Huling’s leadership the Huling Bros. Auto Center was honored with the Better Business Bureau Customer Service award in 2001, and South was pleased to be part of the support for that recognition, Pluhta said.  The auto center also received the national Automobile Education Award from Northwood University in 2003, and was selected as Washington State’s 2004 TIME Magazine Quality Dealer.

Steve Huling has served on the board of directors of South’s foundation from 1991 to 1996, and is a current member of the President’s Advisory Council at South.  Huling and his brother Tom were named South’s Benefactor of the Year in 1987.  They launched an annual golf tournament in conjunction with Thrifty Car Rental, which raised nearly $500,000 for the college foundation until 2007 when they sold their automotive businesses.

Sharon Huling also is active in community support.  In West Seattle she was capital campaign chair for Holy Rosary Church in 2005 - 07, and has been a board member of the Southwest Historical Society and the Log House Museum.  In the wider community she has had leadership roles with the Seattle Art Museum, Lakeside School and On The Boards.

Here is a sample of the many letters of support, from college and community, that led to the naming decision.