PSU hosts high school auto skills competition for Kansas, Missouri

  Tuesday, April 21, 2015 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

PSU hosts high school auto skills competition for Kansas, Missouri

Some of the top automotive technology high school students from Kansas and Missouri will come to Pittsburg State University May 6-7 in a competition that they hope will lead to the national stage.

The Kansas Technology Center at Pittsburg State is the host site for the 2015 Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills Competition, which takes place May 6-7. The event, which challenges students to diagnose and repair various problems within a vehicle, was previously held at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.

“There was a scheduling conflict with the speedway, and Pitt State stepped up to host this event,” said Ron Downing, associate professor of automotive technology at Pitt State and Ford/AAA Skills competition manager for Kansas. “We’re in the business of helping students, and this seemed like a great opportunity to do just that.”

Forty high school students, 20 from each state, will compete at the event. They will be tasked with completing a work order of needed repairs on a 2015 Ford Fiesta.

“The cars will be bugged with various problems,” Downing said. “Their task will be to diagnose those problems and then take the necessary steps to fix them. It’s really a challenging competition, and I’m anxious to see the students take it on.”

Pittsburg State automotive technology faculty and students will help conduct the event.

“Many of our faculty and students will help set up the cars for competition,” Downing said. “They will be the ones bugging the cars, and they’ll also be there to coordinate the entire competition. It’s truly a team effort to make something like this work.”

The winning teams from Kansas and Missouri will advance to the national finals in June.


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