Lowry High School students Philip Kienholz and Jose Mendoza finished third at the Nevada Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Student Competition Thursday in Sparks. Together, they were awarded over $25,000 in scholarships and tools.
Kienholz and Mendoza were the third to get their vehicle running, the third highest score on the written exam and the third team overall.
The competition is a fast-paced, hand-on contest that has students diagnose and repair deliberately "bugged" Ford vehicles and drive them across a finish line. This year, students are competing for more than $10 million in state and national scholarships (each state's winning team gets to advance to national finals in June).
Twenty of Nevada's top junior and senior automotive technology students (10 teams of two each) represented the following schools on Thursday: Albert Lowry High School, Coronado High School, Arbor View High School, Churchill County High School, Douglas High School, East Career Technology Academy, Southeast Career Technical Academy, Southwest Career & Technical Academy, Virgin Valley High School and East Career Technology Academy.
Advancements in automobile safety, fuel management and comfort have led to an increasing reliance on computers and electronic components that make cars operate efficiently, according to AAA. Today's auto technicians must be well-educated and continue training to stay on the cutting edge of advances in computer and electronic technology. In 2008, auto technicians held 763,000 jobs, according to the United States Bureau of Labor. This number is expected to grow by 5% by the year 2018. The Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition's objective is to build awareness of career opportunities and encourage talented students to pursue a future as an automotive service technician.
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