Two teams of students from the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School had first place finishes in the recent Pennsylvania Automotive Association/American Youth Educational Service skills competition and the SkillsUSA regional competitions.

A team of two students took first place in the written and hands-on automotive technology competition at the Community College of Allegheny County. Another team of three students won first place in the automated manufacturing competition and advanced to the state competition.

The Pennsylvania Automotive Association sponsors the two-phase regional contest for teams of students from American Youth Educational Service membership schools.

Shawn Palmer and Dustin Dupe are the two-member team. As high school seniors, both are taking advantage of the cooperative education program and spending part of their school day working as automotive technicians with Kelly Chevrolet.

Both will return to the Community College of Allegheny County in a few weeks to complete the automotive trouble-shooting portion of their competition.

Shawn is determined to have perfect attendance at the vo-tech this year and has proven himself to be a good addition to the staff at Kelly Chevrolet as he continually learns and upgrades his automotive skills.

"I love it. They take care of me and want me to succeed," Shawn said. "Everyone should live life one day at a time and follow the opportunities that are given to you."

Through the American Youth Educational Service and vo-tech partnership, Dustin was given the opportunity to work at Kelly Chevrolet during the summer preceding his senior year and will now participate in the school's cooperative education program.

He said the vo-tech's automotive technology program is a "qualified program that has allowed me to start my future in the automotive field. Everyone at Kelly Chevrolet is helpful and supportive, especially the head technician, Byron Dreher."

James Bradley, Alan Bandi and Steve Rushmore formed the other team and competed in the automated manufacturing competition sponsored by SkillsUSA. The contest is designed to be an exact reproduction of the manufacturing process with computer-aided design of a part, programming of the computer, and the CNC machining of the part resulting in a prototype of the part.

This team in March will compete in the 2006 SkillsUSA Pennsylvania state competition in Lancaster.

SkillsUSA is a national nonprofit organization that prepares high school and college students for the high performance demands of trade, technical, and skilled service occupations.

This article was submitted by the Butler County Area Vocational-Technical School.