Fairfax Team Tops Annual
WANADA Auto Tech Competition
Winners Advance to National Contest in NYC
After two snow delays, the areaês top high school automotive technician students finally went toe-to-toe last Wednesday, and the action was worth the wait. In a very tight contest between top high school auto tech students, the winners of the annual Washington Area Automotive Technology Competition were the talented Fairfax County team of Kyle Houghton and Caroline Gibson our first lady tech to make the winnerês circle!
In addition to Snap-On and BG Products prizes awarded to all participants, the winning pair won the right to represent the Washington area at the National Automotive Technology Competition at the New York International Auto Show in April, where tech competition winners from around the country compete for over $3 million in scholarships and prizes.
Sponsored by WANADA, Snap-On Tools, BG Products and DARCARS 355 Volvo, this yearês event was held at Montgomery Collegeês Homer S. Gudelsky Institute for Technical Education, and hosted by Patrick Devlin, the director of the Instituteês automotive programs.
Iêm pleased to participate in this competition which highlights the best of the next generation of auto technicians, said Devlin. And I am grateful to WANADA and its member dealers for their support of these fine county programs and our auto tech training program here at Montgomery College.
The competition featured teams of two automotive technicians from high schools in Montgomery County, MD; Prince George’s County, MD; and Fairfax County, VA. There was no team from the District of Columbia this year because the cityês auto tech program is in the process of being transferred from Phelps High School, which is closed for remodeling, to Ballou High School.
As in the past, students were judged by a team of professional automotive technicians and instructors on five 20-minute stations that tested their ability with measuring tools using a micrometer; battery, alternator and starter testing; on-board diagnostic troubleshooting on a 2.4-liter, 5-cylinder Volvo S60; alignment interpretations; and a 15-question, ASE-based written test prepared by WANADA.
WANADA congratulates all competitors and wishes the winners the best of luck in New York next month. The WANADA Bulletin will report on the results of that competition.
Download Bulletin PDF