Pike Central High School Students Win State Competition;
Advance to Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills National Finals
Indianapolis, IN (Apr.
28, 2008) – Pike
Central High School seniors Derek Mehringer and David
Pennington proved themselves worthy of being called
Indiana’s best student auto technicians last Friday by
winning the state’s Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills contest,
which took place at the Holiday Inn Select – Airport in
Indianapolis.
The duo will now represent
Indiana by competing against 98 other high school students
from around the country in the Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills
national finals, which will take place June 24 in Dearborn,
MI.
During the national finals,
the team from
Petersburg, IN will be challenged to find and quickly fix
the intentional “bugs” placed in their assigned vehicle, as
they did during last week’s state competition, then drive
the repaired vehicle to the finish line. Their hands-on
score will be combined with the results of a written exam
testing their motor vehicle knowledge, and the total will
determine the top 10 teams in the nation.
Pike Central
defeated nine other
two-person teams from throughout Indiana to advance to the
national finals. The two students were presented with
numerous scholarship opportunities for their state-level
victory. In Dearborn, the team will compete for additional
scholarships and prizes valued at more than $6 million.
The annual Ford/AAA Student
Auto Skills competition encourages students to explore
careers in the automotive repair industry and continue their
education after high school. Additionally, the competition
highlights the increasing demand for well-trained
technicians in the automotive repair industry. For example,
the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
estimates that the employment of automotive service
technicians and mechanics will increase by 14 percent
between 2006 and 2016, compared with 10 percent for all
other occupations. BLS also estimates an additional 110,000
new automotive technician jobs will be added over the
decade.
AAA
AAA Hoosier Motor Club is a fully tax-paying, not-for-profit
corporation that offers a wide range of services. The
405,000-member affiliate of the American Automobile
Association (AAA) works for the improvement of motoring and
traveling conditions within its 50-county Indiana territory.
AAA is the largest motoring and traveling organization in
the world with more than 51 million members.
Read other releases...
|
