Akron, OH — In late January, 21 schools were notified that they had made it to the second round of the Tomorrow’s Technician/Chicago Pneumatic School of the Year contest.
There were more than 130 entrants submitted that nominated more than 60 different high schools, technical schools and colleges in this year’s competition.
The following are the top schools for the 2008/09 TT/CP School of the Year contest to move on to the second round. Note: The Northeast region had two schools that tied during the scoring, so at this time, there are six schools from that region.
Southwest
Arapohoe Community College, Littleton, CO
College of Eastern Utah, Price, UT
Ramona High School, Ramona, CA
Butler Community College, El Dorado, KS
Smoky Hill High School, Smoky Hill, CO
Southeast
Gwinnett Technical College, Lawrenceville, GA
Chipola College, Marianna, FL
Muscle Shoals Center for Technology, Muscle Shoals, AL
Piedmont Technical College, Greenwood, SC
Haney Technical Center and High School, Panama City, FL
Northwest
Renton Technical College, Renton, WA
Sabin-Schellenberg Professional Technology Center, Milwaukie, OR
Shoreline Community College, Seattle WA
Western Wyoming Community College, Rock Springs, WY
Estacada High School, Estacada, OR
Northeast
North Montco Technical Career Center, Landsdale, PA
Southern Illinois University (Automotive Technology), Carbondale, IL
Automotive Training Center, Exton, PA
Ranken Technical College, St. Louis, MO
Ohio Technical College, Cleveland, OH
Old Bridge High School, Matawan, NJ
For the second part of this process, the above-mentioned schools’ instructors were asked to provide additional information about their school and their automotive program.
Some of the information they can provide includes the teacher/student ratio, graduation percentage, community service, special projects, scholarships for underprivileged students, job placement percentage, types of programs offered, number of instructors and which ASE certifications they hold, and any awards or recognitions they may have received.
The judges also require one letter of recommendation from a current student, a parent of an automotive student and the school’s principal or director/administrator. Additional information will be considered as well, especially photographs, and instructors were encouraged to be creative.
All entries for the second round must be mailed and postmarked by February 28, 2009.
The winning school will be announced in April, along with the three runner-up schools from the remaining regions. An article on the winning school will be featured in the May issue of Tomorrow’s Technician.