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Saline Students Win Michigan Ford/AAA Auto Skills Final

5 May 2000

Saline Students Win Michigan Ford/AAA Auto Skills Final

    DEARBORN, Mich., May 4 Two Saline High School students
took first place in the seventh annual Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills National
Quality Care Challenge this morning at Macomb County Community College near
Mount Clemens.
    Kyle Harris of Grass Lake and Jeff Szpara of Saline successfully fixed
their deliberately "bugged" 2000 Ford Taurus to beat out nine other student
auto technicians teams from across the state.
    Second place went to Justin Green of Burtchville and Andrew Schroeder of
St. Clair, who attend St. Clair County Technical Educational Center.  Third
place was won by Keith Schultz and Norman Westphal, both from Warren, students
at Fitzgerald High School.  Best written test score was also won by Schultz
and Westphal.
    The winning students will represent Michigan in the national finals June
19 in Washington, DC.
    "The shortage of qualified, automotive service technicians is growing
today," Basch said.  "Our event hopefully encourages young people to pursue
this line of work, which is becoming more lucrative each year," Basch said.
    Techs can earn between $35,000 and $75,000 or more per year.  Competition
is fierce among repair facilities to lure knowledgeable technicians who can
fix the cars of today and keep up with technology that will be standard
equipment on cars in the next 10 years.
    Each participant qualified for the state final by placing among the 10
highest team scores in a written test of judgment and knowledge of mechanics
and electronics during regional testing in February.
    AAA and Ford have teamed to co-sponsor the contest to recognize the
talents of these young professionals. Nationwide, approximately 6,000 students
are expected to compete in this year's Student Auto Skills contest for $9
million in scholarships and prizes.