When we were talking about torque wrenches in plumbing class today, I must have had a blank look on my face that betrayed my total lack of familiarity with the topic, because something prompted our instructor to ask if I had ever changed a tire. I had to confess that I had not.

And with that, he ordered the entire class to stand up and walk down the hall to the automotive collision classroom, where they proceeded to teach me to change the tire of a Ford F-150 that had run over a nail.

Twenty minutes later, I had replaced the patched tire on the truck, using the awesomely convenient and powerful garage jack, AND my classmates had shown me how to use the comparatively wimpy jack that comes with my minivan.

(If you’re thinking tire-maintenance is off-topic for a construction class on plumbing, keep in mind that the F-150 tire picked up the nail while driving on a construction site.)

When we returned to our Building Construction Technology classroom, my fellow female classmate Gabby had arrived. The instructor asked if she knew how to change a tire.

“Of course,” said Gabby, who only recently got her driver’s license. “That’s how you know when you’re a real grown up.”