A full-time student scholarship is at stake when high school students from across Arizona measure their automotive testing and diagnostic skills during the inaugural Maricopa Community Colleges’ Arizona High School Auto Challenge.
The challenge online qualifying exam will be administered on Jan. 27. It is formatted specifically to provide students the experience of sitting for the Automotive Service Excellence, or ASE certification tests, the industry standard.
The top 10 qualifying schools will send a team of two seniors and one alternate to Mesa Community College (MCC) to participate in the onsite portion of the competition in April. During this portion of the challenge, students will demonstrate their automotive diagnosis and repair skills by fixing a bugged vehicle.
Automotive instructors from three of the Maricopa Community Colleges offering post-secondary degree and certificate automotive programs banded together to present the challenge, which replaces a similar competition co-hosted for 22 years by Ford Motor Company and AAA. The Auto Challenge will rotate among Mesa Community College, at Southern Avenue and Dobson Road, on Friday, April 22; GateWay Community College, in 2017; and Glendale Community College, in 2018.
“In the past, automotive high school instructors relied on the Ford/AAA competition to showcase their top students in a hands-on experience,” said Mesa Community College Automotive Faculty Bryce Bond. “As of Sept. 1, 2015, the Ford/AAA competition sadly was ended, leaving a huge void.”
“Historically, Ford/AAA would offer employment,” he added. “We will offer education through scholarships.”
The high school and postsecondary automotive technology instructors see this as an opportunity to get students excited about the latest advances in the automotive technology field.
“Automotive technology changes rapidly, and the auto challenge will give students a real-life experience diagnosing and repairing vehicles using the most current technology,” said GateWay Community College Automotive Program Director Steve Folks. “It also highlights the importance of encouraging talented young people to pursue automotive technology associate degrees and certificates as well as careers as automotive service technicians.”
“With three well-respected automotive programs that focus on domestic and imported automotive technologies, manufacturer’s certifications and high levels of job placement, hosting the auto challenge aligns with our goal of encouraging students to pursue college degrees and certificates in this field,” said Glendale Community College Ford Asset Instructor Don Davis. “It’s a three-way win scenario. Scholarships for students mean more trained, workforce-ready graduates who become contributing employees to the local economy.”
Additional information and the link to register for the exam may be found online at www.mesacc.edu/autochallenge.