Rob Thompson, president of the North American Council of Automotive Teachers (NACAT), provided an overview of the organization’s annual meeting held recently at Greenville Technical College in Greenville, SC.
• Approximately 250 attendees and presenters were present at this year’s event.
• 144 sessions covering topics from new product information to ways to improve teaching and learning were offered. Some of the best trainers in the industry presented these sessions.
• More than 30 exhibitors and vendors had booths at the trade show, displaying new products and innovative educational teaching aids.
• Mitchell1 presented the Outstanding Automotive Student Scholarship to Jonathan Hladney from Highland High School in Natrona Heights, PA.
• The Mitchell1 Educator of the Year Award was given to James Truxal from Sinclair Community College in Dayton, OH.
• The Larry Cotten Memorial Scholarship was presented to Shelby Woods from Southwestern Community College in Creston, IA.
• Gates awarded a scholarship to Tim Pifer from Midlands Technical College in Columbia, SC, to attend NACAT 2014.
• Delmar Cengage Learning and Jack Erjavec presented the Innovative Instructor Award to Chuck DeBernardi of Kaskaskia College in Centralia, IL. The first runner-up was David Gilbert, Ph.D, from the University of Southern Illinois Carbondale.
The second runner-up was George Patchoros from Bronx Community College in Bronx, NY.
• The NACAT Education Foundation New Automotive Teacher Award was presented to Fred Wright from Owensboro Community College in Owensboro, KY.
• NACAT recognized Dan and Lynda Perrin for their many years of service to NACAT.
• CDX Automotive was presented with the Friends of NACAT Award for 2014.
• Chuck Ginther received the NACAT MVP Award for his years of service to NACAT.
• Bill Haas was introduced as the new NACAT Business Manager. Bill is replacing Dan Perrin who is retiring at the end of August this year.
For more information on NACAT, visit: http://www.nacat.org