Madison High Auto Technology Students Compete Against Other High Schools

Adolfo Marin and Uziel Salgado, Madison High School automotive students, were among the top ten high school auto technology student teams competing in the Ford/AAA Student AutoSkills State Championship for the title of the state’s best auto repair team.

Teams were challenged to repair identically bugged Ford Fusions to win more than $12 million in scholarships and prizes. Of the 13,000 students who competed in regional competitions nationwide, 772 of them were women.

Not only does the AutoSkills competition give students a chance to win prizes, it also puts students in a pressure situation that they might encounter in a real auto shop after graduation.

"Many students still do not know what they would like to do after high school," said Omar Sevilla, Madison's automotive technology teacher. "Contests like this are an important motivation for them. To qualify, the students must pass written tests and show their competencies in the classroom."

The curriculum and standards are put in place by National Automotive Technical Education Foundation (NATEF) and are used in all Automotive Technology classes in the San Diego Unified School District. The classes are designed to prepare students for real-world work environments.

The Ford/AAA Student AutoSkills Challeng started in 1949 to encourage high school students to consider automotive careers. Judges grade on knowledge, mechanical abilities and a hands-on under the hood competition where students demonstrate best workmanship in the shortest time. The competition is sponsored by AAA and Ford Motor Company. It begins each year as junior and senior automotive students take a state qualifying exam online. Those scoring high on the qualifying exams move on to the hands-on state finals.

For more information, please contact Sevilla at mailto:%20osevilla@sandi.net.