Two sponsors, 12 teams consisting of two students each “technically” competed for automotive excellence.

On Feb. 12, Cerritos College hosted the Auto Technician Competition for 12, two-man teams representing their high schools from all over the city of Los Angeles at the auto repair facility.

The competition that started at the Los Angeles Auto Show, then moved to Cerritos College, has been here for six years.

Todd Leutheuser, executive director for the Southland Motor Car Dealers Association said this move was to “expose avenues of higher education to students interested in the automotive industry.”

The other sponsor was the Greater Los Angeles New Car Dealers Association.

The teams faced challenges at 12 different stations.

Leonard Glick, an instructor of the Import Technical Training Program at Cerritos College, said that events consisted of measurements, part and system identification, problem identification, exercises involving the various functioning systems of an automobile and a mock interview that was added as part of the competition this year.

Jose Magana, a student at Narbonne High School, described his interview experience. “It went really smooth, not hard at all. Common questions about what we wanted to do in the future”, he said.

After all the interviews were conducted and challenges at each station were faced, only two teams would move on to the New York Auto Show, Auto Technician Competition on April 27 and 28.

The winning team that will be sponsored by the SMCDA consists of students representing Southeast ROP. The students were Pedro Ruiz-Barrios and Frank Cornejo.

The winning team that will be sponsored by the GLANCDA is from Van Nuys High School.

The students were Shane Sullivan and Treniece Hill.