MILFORD – On April 25, 2013, Southeast Community College’s (SCC) Automotive Technology Program (ATP) will host Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills (SAS), a nation- wide automotive technology competition for high school juniors and seniors interested in pursuing careers as automotive service technicians.
“The competition tests students’ automotive knowledge, workmanship and problem-solving abilities with a written test as well as a race against the clock to diagnose and properly repair intentionally ‘bugged’ vehicles,” explained Rick Morphew, one of the instructors in the ATP program at SCC.
In 2011, 9,953 automotive technology students competed at Ford/AAA SAS for a
share of nearly $12 million in scholarships available through the state and national competitions.
In 2012, Ford/AAA SAS national winners were students Bryce Banks and Jed Redger with instructor Cory Unruh, a team from Newton High School in Newton, Kan.
An entry fee of $135 allows a full- or part-time instructor to enter a team of minimum of two students (no maximum) from a school. This is the only registration fee instructors will need to pay, regardless of how far the instructor and the team progress in the competition.
Each participating instructor selects his or her best 11th or 12th grade auto technology students to take the state qualifying exam which is taken online and administered by a test proctor or administrator at the school. The 2013 Ford/AAA SAS Qualifying Exams continued through February 26 and the scores will be available soon.
“The ten teams scoring highest on the state qualifying exam will move on to the ‘hands-on state finals scheduled each year between mid-April and mid-May,” Morphew added.
The winning two-person team from each state and its instructor will be provided expense-paid trips to the national finals in June 2013.
At the national competition, each member of the 50 state teams will take a written exam. Errors on the written exams will be converted into time demerits, and they will be added to the team’s time for the “hands-on” mechanical competition in both the state and national competitions.
Each vehicle in the national “hands-on” competition will be supervised by a team judge who will supply new parts upon request. When a team believes it has returned its vehicle to normal working order, the hood is closed, which will signal the timer to stop the team’s clock.
The team and its judge will then take the vehicle on a short road test. The team may then return the vehicle to its work area for further diagnosis and repair or proceed to final judging.
“The team with the fewest quality-of-workmanship demerits and the best combined total score of repair time and written exam scores will be declared the winner,” explained Morphew.