The Legislative Press and Public Information Bureau
Distributed May 8, 2002
For more information,
contact: Meredyth R. Waterman, Publicist
State House Room 20
(401) 222-2457
Email: mwaterman@rilin.state.ri.us
WACTC team wins
first prize in national competition
STATE
HOUSE -- Rep. Eileen Naughton (D-Dist. 32) is proud to announce that a duo of
Warwick Area Career and Technical Center (WACTC) students took home top honors
in the 2002 National Automotive Technology Competition.
|
| WELL-DESERVED
CONGRATULATIONS - Warwick Area Career and Technical Center (WACTC) seniors
Greg Paul, second from left, and Chris Scotti, second from right, accept
citations from Rep. Eileen Naughton (D-Dist. 32) of Warwick for their
recent first-place finish at the National Automotive Technology
Competition held in New York City. With them is their coach and WACTC
teacher, Vincent Fittante. |
Greg
Paul, 18, of Warwick and Chris Scotti, 17, of West Warwick, both seniors at the
school in Warwick, placed first in the national automotive competition held
April 2 and 3 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. The
achievement garnered them a slew of prizes for themselves and their school, as
well as praise from Representative Naughton, who recently visited them and their
coach, WACTC teacher Vincent Fittante, to congratulate them.
“This is
really a remarkable achievement for the boys, for their coach and for their
school,” said Representative Naughton, whose district is in Warwick. “The
brightest automotive students from all over the country and Canada were vying
for this, and Greg and Chris truly earned the honor. They spent months studying
and sharpening their skills and when the competition came, they were ready.”
The competition
consisted of written tests as well as hands-on skills tests and an event in
which the two young men were presented with a Volkswagen Passat that was
electronically and mechanically bugged. They had two hours to determine the
problems, fix them and document their work. Their overall score at the end of
the competition was first in a field of 38 state- and province-champion teams
from the United States and Canada. According to Fittante, this is the first time
a team from Rhode Island has ever even placed in the top 10 of a national
automotive competition.
The pair
started training for this competition and two others before Thanksgiving,
spending two to four hours studying after school every day. They qualified for
the national competition by first winning the state-level contest. (Another team
from WACTC was the runner-up in
Rhode Island.) As the state’s entry into the national competition, they were
sponsored by the Rhode Island Automobile Dealers Association.
Three weeks
before the contest, they were notified that the practical portion of their
competition would be performed on a Passat. Fiore Volkswagen of West Warwick
then gave them the use of a Passat, as well as a laptop computer, the CD-ROM
reference manuals and the scanning device necessary for repair work. The company
also assigned one of its technicians to assist the students in their
preparation.
Paul and Scotti
won tens of thousands of dollars in scholarships and prizes for their
achievement. Both students have chosen to enter the two-year Universal Technical
Institute Master Certified Auto Technology Program. A full scholarship to that
program was one of the many scholarships included in their prizes. Upon
graduation from that program, they will each receive a brand-new Pontiac Vibe as
part of their prize. Among the other prizes each will receive is a Snap-on top
and roll cabinet toolbox worth $1,900.
Among the
prizes they won for WACTC is a General Motors vehicle for school use, $5,000 in
award money and a wheel-balancing device valued at about $5,000.
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