Auto Education

2017 Automotive Education Scholarship Winners

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At the Association's 12th Annual Charity Golf Outing, which took place Monday August 28, at the Old Westbury Golf & Country Club, GNYADA distributed $20,000 in scholarships among five students enrolled in technician training at Lincoln Technical Institute, who are also veterans of the U.S. military.

The following students each received a GNYADA Automotive Education Scholarship for U.S. Veterans in the amount of $5,000:

Chung Lee served thirteen years in the U.S. Army, working primarily with an intelligence unit as an interrogator. Stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq, he earned the Army Commendation Medal for Valor. After a combat injury forced him to retire from active service, he enrolled in Lincoln Tech, where he has a 3.98 GPA and near-perfect attendance. He also volunteers in “Wheelers for the Wounded”, taking disabled veterans on camping getaways and off-road driving adventures.

Tyesha Cuttino spent four years with the United States Airforce, serving as an airfield manager stationed abroad at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, then at Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina. As a civilian, she works at LaGuardia Airport, overseeing aircraft maintenance and ensuring safety standards. The daughter of a mechanic, she now aims to focus her career on her lifelong love of automobiles. Enrolled in Lincoln Tech’s Automotive Technology Program, she has a 3.95 GPA.

Henry Bastidas’s service with the United States Marines brought him to Iraq and Afghanistan, where he served as an infantryman as well as in the motor pool, tasked with everyday automotive maintenance and preparing vehicles for training and combat missions. After sustaining a combat injury in Afghanistan, which cut his military service short, he decided to turn his interest in vehicles into a career path. At Lincoln Tech, Henry has a 3.98 GPA.

Jonathan Laufer joined the Marines directly after high school, enlisting as a petroleum engineer. In under four years, he was promoted to Sergeant where he led a team of over 100 subordinates working on diesel vehicles and other military equipment. Driven by his fascination for complex automotive mechanical systems, including gasoline engines, diesel engines, and hybrid technologies, he has maintained a 4.0 GPA and 100% attendance since enrolling in the Automotive Technician program at Lincoln Tech’s Whitestone campus.