Over 1,000 students from North Texas descended upon the Texas Motor Speedway this weekend for the 5th Annual Auto Tech Competition & Career Day hosted by the North Texas Automobile Dealers (NTXAD). It’s the largest turnout yet for the auto tech competition that is proving to be a major step along to a career for high school students who can demonstrate they’ve got the highly sought-after skills for a job in an industry that’s ready to hire them.
“This is the largest auto-tech competition in the state of Texas — it’s growing every year,” said NTXAD President Brent Franks. “It was created out of a need to introduce Texans to a great career and to create a workforce for our North Texas new car and truck dealerships, and it is working. We know it’s working because of the number of schools joining us every year — but more importantly, because of the number of students we see flourishing in auto tech careers as a direct result of the connections they’ve made at these competitions.”
In the past year, Franks estimates students who’ve participated in the NTXAD Auto Tech Competitions and gone on to careers in the industry have earned a combined $3.5 million. Nationwide, there are more than 76,000 openings for auto technicians, with thousands of those jobs right here in Texas.
“We’ve placed 78 students in full-time jobs this year, at an average starting salary of $45,000 a year. Students today want and need to earn a living wage, and these students are graduating as qualified entry-level auto technicians who are meeting an important need.”
Auto Tech Students from Keller Center for Advanced Learning, mentored by Moritz Kia of Hurst, took first place in the competition, followed by Dubiski Career High School in second place, mentored by Five Star Subaru of Grapevine, and LaGrone Academy in third place, mentored by Bill Utter Ford.
Rounding out the top 10 were teams from Longview High School mentored by Peltier Kia of Tyler, Hollenstein Career & Technology Center mentored by Autobahn Motorcars — BMW, Plano East High School mentored by Sewell BMW of Plano, Wichita Falls Career Education Center mentored by Foundation GMC, Dan Dipert Career Technical Center mentored by AutoNation Ford Arlington, Ratteree Career Development Center mentored by Toyota of Irving, and Vanguard High School mentored by Trophy Nissan.
The top three winning teams receive thousands of dollars in tools from Snap-On for each team member to help them start their career (a huge perk as auto techs are required to purchase their own tools); scholarships provided by the Carroll Shelby Foundation and NTXAD members to NTXAD’s Fast Track Automotive Technician Training Program, which combines hands-on classroom instruction in conjunction with employment opportunities in a new car and truck dealership service center during a concentrated five-week training course; and gift cards for the team instructors and dealer mentors.
The Auto Tech Competition is supported through regional funding from new car and truck dealers in North Texas with support from Chevrolet, Ford, the Ford Foundation, Buick-GMC, BMW, Nissan-Infiniti and Subaru. Other mentoring support includes dealers of Audi, KIA, Lexus, Mercedes-Benz and Toyota, who have come together to support this high-octane industry event.
Supporting sponsors include ASE Education Foundation, Collin College, Dallas College, Tarrant County College, Hill College, Texas State Technical College, Ally, Bank of America, Cumulus Radio Dallas and Forvis Mazars.
To learn more about the career opportunities in automotive technology and the training/education programs available, visit www.ntxad.com.
