Students, parents and administrators of Bonneville High School celebrated with industry icons and other champions on Tuesday, Nov. 1, when the Washington Terrace, UT-based automotive program was named the 2022 School of the Year at the WIX Filters and Babcox Media Night of Excellence. The event, held in Joe’s Garage on the AAPEX show floor, celebrated the school as the 14th recipient of the annual program, naming it the best technical training school in the country. WIX Filters and O’Reilly Auto Parts are sponsors of the national award in conjunction with Tomorrow’s Technician, a Babcox Media property dedicated to automotive students and their instructors.
Adam Arndt, lead instructor at the school, accepted the award from Jim Merle, Tomorrow’s Tech publisher.
“We are honored to award Bonneville High School the 2022 School of the Year award. They have been in the program’s final four in the past and they had a great submission, entirely produced and submitted by the students,” said Merle. “It’s fantastic to be able to recognize Adam and his students on stage at the Night of Excellence!”
As the winning school, Bonneville will receive:
- $10,000 WIX Filters donation to the school’s program
- WIX Filters gear
“Being selected School of the Year has given me and my students the pride of knowing they can do amazing work,” explained Arndt. “Not only in the service bay but in the world, working with various industries to network for our many shop projects.”
His students recognize that the award means more than just receiving a shiny trophy.
“It means so much because it opens up immense opportunities to meet and network with automotive and tech leaders,” said Nolan. Another classmate, Jacob said, “it means all of our hard work has paid off and we accomplished something really amazing together as a team and as a shop.”
The School of the Year program is open to all high schools and postsecondary schools who participate with Tomorrow’s Technician by subscribing to Tomorrow’s Tech Today, the daily e-newsletter designed to supplement classroom instructional materials with industry news, technical articles, career planning information and fun. Judges selected four finalists from video entries, one from a different region — East, Midwest, Mountain and South.
The year’s three runners-up are:
- Jefferson County Vo-Tech, Reynoldsville, PA
- Nature Coast Technical High School, Brooksville, FL
- Davison High School, Davison, MI
Each runner-up received a $500 gift card from WIX.
For more information, visit wixfilters.com.
