Michigan Students Win Ford/AAA Auto Skills Final

    WARREN, Mich., May 18 Two Oxford High School students took
first place in the eighth annual Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills National Quality
Care Challenge today (May 18) at Macomb Community College in Warren.
    Jarrod Hermann of Leonard and Dominic Fandale of Oxford successfully fixed
their deliberately "bugged" 2001 Ford Mustang to beat out 10 other student
auto technician teams from across the state -- the team also scored highest on
the written test portion of the competition.  The team's instructor was Daniel
Balsley.
    Second place went to Dan Haughom and Thomas Nowakowski of Alpena, who
attend Alpena High School.  Third place was won by William McKinney and Brian
Puffpaff from New Haven, students at New Haven High School.
    Winners of the Ultimate Master Technician Challenge include Bruce
Bradfield of Mears (1st place), Alan McCoy of Clare (2nd place), Gregory Lewis
of Battle Creek (3rd place), Larry Miller of Delphos, Ohio (4th place) and
Timothy Evans of Armada (5th place).
    The winning students will represent Michigan in the national finals
June 18 in Washington, D.C.
    Each participant qualified for the state final by placing among the
highest team scores in a written test of judgment and knowledge of mechanics
and electronics during regional testing in February.
    AAA and Ford have teamed to co-sponsor the contest to recognize the
talents of these young professionals.  Nationwide, approximately 6,000
students are expected to compete in this year's Student Auto Skills contest
for $9 million in scholarships and prizes.