EAST HARTFORD, Conn. — Moving from station to station, from car to car, ten students from Connecticut’s technical high schools were in competition at the Gengras Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram dealership in East Hartford.
The competition is sponsored by the Connecticut Automotive Retailers Association (CARA) and is meant to demonstrate how the auto industry can work with schools to create job training programs.
There is a need for auto industry jobs in Connecticut across the board.
"We have the top ten technical high school students competing in an event sponsored by the car association and this is an opportunity to win a cash prize and a trophy.” For Abby Mitchell, a senior at Henry Abbott Tech in New Milford, the experience is about getting her hands dirty – she fully plans to pursue a career in the car industry. Mitchell said, “I like that it's hands-on work and you know you just get to be really involved with the work you do," said Sarah Fryxell, the president of the Connecticut Auto Retailers Association.
Challenged with an array of different tasks to perform like wheel alignments and soldering wires together, Will Gifford, a senior at Norwich Tech said, “People don’t realize what the importance of technical education is right now – kids coming in today have the ability to walk out of here and say hey I can get a job right now.”
Ellen Solek, the executive director of the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System which oversees 20 technical high schools across the state said of the competition, “we get to showcase students with a high level of skill, and they get to experience what it’s like when they graduate from us and (then) seek job openings in the state of Connecticut.”
Jimmy Altman is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at jaltman@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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