MTI students win first in FL in Ford/AAA Auto Skills

(Bradenton, FL—April 22, 2013)  Two of Manatee Technical Institute’s high school Automotive  Service Technology students, Wade Ingram and Skyler Bellows, won first in the State of Florida in the Annual Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Challenge State Hands-On Competition.The MTI student team was one of ten qualifying teams in the state of Florida to compete for the opportunity to represent their state in the 64th Annual Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Challenge in June.

At the Hands-On Competition, the MTI team raced against the clock to correctly diagnose and repair a deliberately “bugged” 2013 Ford Focus SE.  A combination of the MTI students’ hands-on competition and online written exam scores qualified them as the state’s championship team.

MTI sees the competition as a way to help students start promising careers in the automotive repair industry, where there is a rising demand for well-trained technicians that can repair both computer and mechanical components in today’s vehicles.  The competitions are organized with the support of AAA and Ford personnel and local automotive instructors.