Oak Harbor High School automotive classes have a new challenge, thanks to instructor Lincoln Kelly and WhidbeyHealth Emergency Medical Services.

Two WhidbeyHealth surplus ambulances with 6.0 liter diesel engines were donated to Oak Harbor School District recently for automotive educational programs.

“My plan is to convert one of them into a dedicated delivery rig for our culinary program, Wildcat Catering,” Kelly said in a prepared release. “We will be removing most of the current features inside the box area and adding appropriate shelving to better carry the food trays and such.”

The second old ambulance will be converted into the competition rig for the Robotics Club.

“This one will be more of a box truck for carrying the robot, spare parts and accessories,” Kelly said. “This an excellent avenue for my automotive classes to gain real world service and repair experience on the light duty diesel engines, which both of these ambulances have.”

Kelly offered a special thanks to student resource officer Jim Hoagland for bringing the ambulances to his attention and to assistant manager of WhidbeyHealth EMS Sean Levine for working with the school district to get the former ambulances donated to the classroom.

According to Levine, the two former ambulances were bought and built to EMS specifications by Northstar Braun Northwest. One was built and purchased in 2006 and one in 2008.

“We very roughly estimate that they each ran nearly 10,000 calls during their 10-year life in EMS,” Levine said.

All of the equipment, emergency lights, sirens and radios have been removed and/or disabled prior to donation.