Auto Education
Big Win for the Big Apple
PrintTeam GNYADA Wins National Auto Tech Competition
Team Greater New York, John Deluca and Evan Wagner, won 1st place at the 25th annual National Automotive Technology Competition (NATC) and can now call themselves 'America's Top Technicians’. The two seniors from the H.B. Ward Technical Center High School in Riverhead, NY beat out 29 other teams from across the U.S. and Canada to win the 2017 National Championship Trophy. This is the sixth national title for the Greater New York Auto Dealers Association (GNYADA) and the second win for H.B. Ward.
The NATC is the auto industry's largest school-to-work initiative. Every year, regional Franchised New Car Dealer Associations send their best team of high school automotive technology students to the national finals in New York. Competitors are tested at ten separate job-related workstations, followed by a three-hour, under-the-hood component where they diagnose and repair automobiles rigged with a variety of malfunctions.
"High-quality vocational training is a critical part of our nation's education needs. This Competition is designed to encourage more rigorous standards for vocational education to ensure students master the skills they need to succeed as lifelong learners, workers, and citizens," said Mark Schienberg, President of GNYADA.
GNYADA commends all participating teams on the impressive achievement of reaching the national finals. "Students who make it to this Competition have shown an extraordinary ability to combine technical know-how with problem solving abilities. We need these highly motivated and talented young people in dealerships across the country to make sure vehicle owners have access to technicians with the best computer and technical skills," continued Schienberg.
More than $3 million in prizes and scholarships were awarded to the NATC participants as were tool sets from Snap-on, thanks to generous contributions from over 125 automakers, industry organizations, OEM suppliers, educational institutions, and dealer associations.
The Association congratulates John and Evan, and their instructor Michael O'Hara, for winning the 2017 National Automotive Technology Competition. Having a local team acknowledged as the National Champions is another testament to the high quality of technical automotive training in the metro New York area.
The National Automotive Technology Competition, held in conjunction with the New York International Automobile Show, was developed in 1993 by GNYADA to help curb the shortage of qualified automotive technicians and to raise the level of vocational education standards in the public school system. In that time, GNYADA has remained the main sponsor and producer of the NATC.
To learn more about the National Automotive Technology Competition, please visit www.nationalautotechcompetition.com.
