A lifelong Irving resident and graduate of Irving High School, Universal Technical Institute instructor Jesse Torres has always had a passion for cars. His parents both raced when he was a kid and he spent a lot of time at the track and in the garage fixing up cars. After he graduated from high school, Jesse and his brother worked at an auto repair shop in Irving before heading to Houston to further their education at Universal Technical Institute, the industry’s choice for auto and diesel technician training.
Soon after graduating in 2004, they returned to their hometown of Irving and opened up their own auto repair shop, fulfilling a lifelong dream. After a few years, the brothers closed down the shop to pursue new dreams. For Jesse, it was teaching. He joined Universal Technical Institute’s campus in Irving when it first opened in 2010.
“I’ve really found my niche,” says Torres. “I love coming to work every day and helping students learn how to diagnose what’s wrong with a vehicle. It’s so rewarding to see when that light bulb goes off in their head and they actually understand the problem and how to fix it.”
He says the role of a technician has really changed over the last 10 years and he enjoys teaching future auto and diesel technicians the complex theory involved in diagnosing car issues. With over seventy percent of repair jobs today involving a vehicle’s electrical system most of what technicians do today is diagnostic.
Jesse isn’t only a great instructor, but he cares about his community too. Recently, the Universal Technical Institute campus held a food drive for the North Texas Food Bank where they collected over 2,200 pounds of food. Jesse told his students that he would personally match the amount of canned food they brought in. He was also recently honored with the Hero of the Month award from the school, an award where individuals need to be nominated by their peers and chosen by the leadership team at the campus.
In his spare time, Jesse likes racing cars, tuning cars to improve their performance and helping family and friends diagnose and fix problems with their own cars. A self-described NASCAR nut, Jesse is a season ticket holder at Texas Motor Speedway where he cheers on his favorite driver, Kyle Bush with the M&M team.
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