Platt Tech Auto Program Wins 2013 State Ford/AAA Skills Competition
When it comes to automobile diagnostic skills, the team of Michael Tracz and Giorgio Favia are hard to beat. Just ask the nine teams representing Connecticut Technical High Schools who faced the pair at the 2013 Connecticut Ford/AAA Auto Skills Competition held on May 9, 2013. Not only did Tracz and Favia win the trophy for the highest team score on the written test, they also came in first in the Auto Skills Competition.
The competition required each team to work on 2013 Ford Focuses that had faults or “bugs” placed in them. The students had 90 minutes to find, repair and replace defective parts and then drive the car to final judging. Stevens Ford of Milford partnered with Platt Technical High School to provide the necessary materials for Mr. Tracz and Mr. Favia to practice and prepare for their competition. When asked about the strategy used for the competition, Mr. Tracz replied “our diagnostic skills are very different from one another so we used a divide and conquer technique, where I worked on the engine and Giorgio worked on the electrical components.” Mr. Favia added “we plan on taking using the divide and conquer plan at the National Finals in June.”
The two students and their instructor, Mr. Kirk Stankiewicz, will receive an all-expense paid trip to Dearborn, Michigan to compete with students from around the country in the National Finals this June at the Ford Motors World Headquarters.
The goal of the Ford / AAA Student Auto Skills Competition is to foster young people’s interest in the automotive industry through a spirited nationwide competition with opportunities to win prizes, scholarships, tools and awards along with an experience that could help shape the future of their careers.
Located in Milford, CT, Platt Technical High School is one of seventeen regional vocational high schools in the Connecticut Technical High School System. Platt Tech’s mission is to provide nothing less than the finest technical and academic education possible for all students. The 900 students who attend Platt come from various communities in both New Haven and Fairfield counties and have the opportunity to learn and master a trade during their time at Platt. More information about Platt Tech is available on its website http://www.cttech.org/platt/.
