GateWay Community College students competed against the best of the best at the SkillsUSA Arizona Championships.
Each year, industry experts, employers and educators gather at this annual event where high school and college students compete in 70 different trades ranging from cosmetology to welding.
“We’ve been attending the competition either as judges or contestants for probably the last 15 years,” said GateWay Community College Automotive Program Director Steve Folks. “And most of those years we’ve had student competitors and frequently had first place winners that have gone to national.”
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GateWay Community College Automotive student Brian Story won first place at the regional competition and fellow classmate, Paul Hooker, won second place at the Arizona Championship.
“The regional competition was a lot of paper tests and math,” said Story. “I’m excited to go to nationals because it’s going to be hands-on and that’s what I’m really good at. I love engines, I love taking things apart and putting them back together. It was the coolest thing when I got to completely take apart an engine in class.”
In addition to attending GateWay Community College, both Story and Hooker work at Honda dealerships.
“We have a really close working relationship with all of the Honda stores in the Valley,” said Folks. “They hire our students and part of that is because they are Honda PACT (Professional Automotive Career Training) students. The partnership between GateWay Community College and Honda prepares students with the training necessary before they graduate.
“Part of that partnership includes trying to have the exact same equipment here so that when students go to work, they say, 'oh yeah, I learned how to do that at school and its exactly like what we have at work', so it makes it a very easy transition for them.”
Prior to enrolling at GateWay, Hooker worked on cars in his garage and never thought it could turn into a career.
“This program is more than I thought it would be,” said Hooker. “There’s a lot of hands-on experience in this program and I love it.”
In June, Story will represent Arizona and GateWay Community College at the SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference in Louisville, Ky.