High school students from 10 area career centers and comprehensive high schools recently competed at Washington State Community College (WSCC) in the SkillsUSA Ohio Regional Automotive Service Technology competition.

SkillsUSA is a national nonprofit student organization that serves teachers and high school and college students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service. Each year, the organization conducts regional, state and national competitive events that showcase students’ skills and talents. WSCC hosted Ohio’s regional Automotive Service Technology portion of the competition. Participants included students from Knox County, Swiss Hills, Tri-County, Coshocton County, Buckeye, Washington County and Mid-East career centers, Jefferson County Joint Vocational School and Meigs, Morgan and C-TEC high schools.

As part of the event, contestants highlighted their ability to perform jobs and skills based on the task list outlined by the National Institute for Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) and the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation (NATEF). Hands-on workstations consisted of on-vehicle, simulations, bench and component testing. Contestants were judged on technical competency, accuracy, quality, safety and ability to follow directions. A final component of the competition was a written test that was administered prior to the event.

Winners of the 2019 SkillsUSA Ohio Regional Automotive Technology competition were: first place – Liam Grey from C-TEC High School, second place – Travis Painter from Meigs High School and third place – Terrance Stiers from Morgan High School. Each of the winners will advance to the state competition where they will compete against Ohio’s finest in Automotive Service Technology.