Thomas Edison students show their skills
Quartet from Jamaica high school earns fi rst, third place fi nishes in automotive competition
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
Two teams from the
Automotive Program at
Thomas Edison CTE High
School in Jamaica earned
first and third place at
the regional National
Automotive Technology
Competition in Queens last
week advancing to the next
round.
Four seniors from
Thomas Edison — located
at 165-65 84th Ave. —
demonstrated their skills
as automotive technicians
Jan. 9 at the Center for
Automotive Education and
Training at 15-30 Petracca
Place in Whitestone.
Team Red — consisting
of Daniel Castro and Roshan
Samad — won first place,
while and Team Blue —
consisting of Jordy Castro
and Lazaro Isidoro — earned
a third place finish.
“The competition so
far has been a really fun,
exciting experience,” said
Lazaro. “We are more
motivated than ever to keep
learning and doing our
best to hopefully go on to
nationals and win it all.”
The nationally
recognized competition
was developed in 1993
by the Greater New York
Automobile Dealers
Association to help curb
the shortage of qualified
automotive technicians and
raise the level of vocational
education standards in the
public school system.
A total of 40 students from
20 different teams in Career
Technical Education (CTE)
school programs, raced
against the clock repairing
car engines and other key
vehicle operating systems.
Four teams from New
York City and three teams
from the Westchester/
(From l. to r.) Thomas Edison CTE High School Teacher Miguel Sierra with his students Daniel Castro
and Roshan Samad, who won first place in the National Automotive Technology Competition.
Rockland area will advance
to the second round in the
competition — scheduled
to take place Feb. 12, when
they will compete against
other regional winners
from Long Island in an
effort to be the Greater New
York representative at the
National Auto Technology
Competition.
The finals, in which more
than $3 million in prizes
and scholarships is at stake,
will be judged before a live
audience at the 2019 New
York International Auto
Show in April.
“Witnessing my
students’ hard work pay off
was extremely exciting,”
said Miguel Sierra, who
teaches the three-year
Automotive Technology
Shop. “Seeing them do well
in the first round was a
Photos courtesy of Dominick Totino Photography
Students Daniel Castro (l.) and Roshan Samad.
wonderful feeling because
I know how much time they
have dedicated to being
successful, both in the
competition and for their
future in the industry.”
After the results were
announced, each of the
regional winners drew the
name of a car manufacturer,
Students Lazaro Isidoro (l.) and
Jordy Castro.
which will donate a car for
the students to study and
work on in advance of the
Feb. 12 New York finals.
“Right now what we need
is a really strong partnership
with dealerships because the
vehicles we’re going to work
on, those are brand new
vehicles that we don’t have
in the school,” said Sierra.
“So for us to get exposure
to those vehicles we do have
to look out for and take
advantage of any help we
can get from dealerships.
Sierra said the
competition helps students
prepare for a career as an
auto technician.
“The people that put
together the competition
are industry dealerships,
so those dealerships pretty
much want certain skills for
technicians that are coming
into those positions. These
competitions really put to the
test to see if we as a school
are preparing our students
properly,” said Sierra.
Looking ahead to the next
competition in February,
Sierra said it’ll be tough but
the top students competing
will apply the knowledge
they learned in class.
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone at (718) 260–
4526.
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