Back to the Future

March 21, 2025Newsletter Archives

Greetings! Bob Sorokanich here, filling in for Eric Savitz. 

As a schoolkid, I filled my notebooks with sketches of cars – improbable machines with flame paint jobs and menacing grilles. For me, and for every one of my car-crazy colleagues across the world, working at General Motors is a childhood dream made real. 

But I have to admit, I’m a little jealous. Because today’s teen artists get to join GM’s Youth Modelers, Artists and Designers program, where students in grades 7 through 12 can work alongside GM Design employees, honing their skills and learning how tomorrow’s vehicles take shape. 

Now in its 20th year, YMAD pairs promising student artists with GM Design mentors for an 11-week course covering sketching, clay sculpting, and digital design. At the end of the program, students present their projects to GM leaders in the hallowed halls of the Warren design dome, once described by GM’s Ed Welburn as “a holy place for our designers.”

YMAD doesn’t just give aspiring artists a peek inside the studio – it teaches students and parents about the many career opportunities available in the auto industry. Lots of YMAD alumni go on to receive GM college mentorships, paving the way for career opportunities in Michigan and beyond. This week, GM News and The Detroit Free Press both featured stories of current GM designers who got their start in YMAD – and who pay it forward as YMAD mentors today. 

Maybe I’ll show them one of my old high-school notebooks.

Elsewhere on GM News, we sat down with GM product manager David Craig, who supports a 90-person team supplying mapping data that powers Super Cruise. Among this group, he’s known as “the map guru.” Thanks to the mapping team, Super Cruise(1) offers the largest truly hands-free operating domain in North America. “When I first started working with GPS systems more than 30 years ago, I never dreamed I’d be where I am now,” Craig tells GM News. “I still love solving problems and bringing new products into the world. If I can actually use that product in everyday life, like with Super Cruise, the more joy I get out of it.” Check out the full conversation here. 

Finally, to celebrate Rosie the Riveter Day, we remembered the women who joined the workforce in GM factories during World War II. In Michigan alone, more than 200,000 women proudly stepped up to build the bombers, tanks and munitions that powered America’s troops to victory.

-- Bob Sorokanich, senior editor, GM News