Students /
January 15, 2019

Student Competition Determines Which Two Minnesota High Schoolers go to New York

Annually the Greater New York Automobile Dealers Association hosts the National Automotive Technology Competition at the New York International Auto Show in New York City. The Minnesota Automotive Dealers Association (MADA) sponsors two high school seniors to participate in this competition, which awards more than $3 million in prizes and scholarships.

On Friday, January 4, a runoff competition was held at the Chrysler Training Center in Brooklyn Park, MN to determine who will be representing Minnesota at the 2019 competition at the Jacob Javits Convention Center on April 23-24. The 24 competitors at the runoff were representatives from seven Minnesota ASE certified high schools, which included Anoka S.T.E.P., Denfeld High School, Faribault High School, Fergus Falls High School, Moorhead High School, Rosemount High School and St. Cloud Apollo. The students competed as individuals completing five different stations, testing their knowledge in precision measurement, engine performance, electrical and electronic systems, steering, suspension and brakes in addition to a 60 question written exam.

Once the scores were tabulated, the pairs of students from each school with the highest totals were determined and their scores were combined. The top two scorers for the entire competition were Nick Martell (1st place) and Jacob Onofrey (2nd place) from St. Cloud Apollo High School which earned them the opportunity to represent Minnesota at the National Automotive Technology Competition. Congratulations to the Nick and Jacob in addition to Byron Byker their automotive instructor. The school that placed 2nd was Rosemount High School followed by Faribault High School in 3rd place.

Thank you to Mike Lehn (ASE), Jon Friton (Ridgewater College) , Robert Engberg (Retired), Bryan Schintgen (Dunwoody), Mark Lessman (Retired), Matt Rieger (FCA), Ross Werner (FCA) and Brian Vannelli (FCA) for being part of such a great event and sharing your expertise with tomorrows technicians.