Pocono News Section

High School Kids Showcase Auto Repair Skills

High School Kids Showcase Auto Repair Skills - Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 4:44PM EST

Reported by: Jeremy Deebel
Thursday, May 15, 2008 @ 04:44pm EST
Williamsport, Lycoming County-

Some local high school students faced off at a statewide automotive skills competition today at Penn College in Williamsport.

Ten two-man teams, working against the clock, each striving to be better than the other. They competed not only for some cool prizes, but the chance to jump start a career in the automotive repair industry.

At the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Competition, it’s all about showcasing automotive knowledge and technical skills. Each team starts with a brand new car, pre-set with specific bugs. The team members’ goal is to find and diagnose the bugs, and fix them. The team that does that fastest, wins.

All the fixes have to be perfect for a team to be declared the winner. And there’s a lot of work to do. Just ask Columbia Montour Vo-Tech’s LeRoy Stinsman.

“They unhooked the fuse for the P. C.M., and without that we can’t read any codes from the computer or anything to get any clue how to start off on that. So that was the first thing we had to fix before we moved on,” Stinsman explained.

If it doesn’t sound easy, it’s not. But automotive technicians are in high demand. The students here had to pass a rigorous written test just to get invited.

Automotive Service Specialist Charles Frey noted, “This is an extremely lucrative field, the automotive technician. Not mechanics, they are automotive technicians. They actually have to be electrical engineers with all the electronics.”

College scholarships were also offered to some of the best competitors.

Many here say they look forward to a career in automotive repair. “It’s very rewarding when you see a car you fixed, comes in with a problem and then leaves the shop. It makes you feel good,” LeRoy Stinsman added.

The winners of the statewide competition will head to Dearborn, Michigan for the national finals in June.

The U. S. Department of Labor expects the need for qualified auto technicians to grow by 14 percent over the next eight years.