SIX IDENTICALLY-BUGGED FORD MUSTANGS

SIX TEAMS OF AUTO TECHNOLOGY STUDENTS

. . . AND ONE CLOCK

THURS. APRIL 14

10:00 A.M. TO 11:30 A.M.

Southeast Technical Institute Campus

In the Ed Wood Technical Center

The Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills contest pits man vs. man, man vs. machine and man vs. the clock in a timed competition testing auto technology prowess.

Six new Ford Mustangs will be lined up, each with identical, deliberately-placed “bugs.”  The horn sounds, the contest begins and the first team to find all the bugs wins thousands in scholarship money and the right to represent South Dakota at the National Finals at Ford headquarters in Dearborn, Michigan in June.

Each two-student team earned a spot in the South Dakota Finals by recording 

one of the state’s top scores in the preliminary online exam.  The high school-age

students in the contest are from Aberdeen, Brookings, Mitchell, Sioux Falls CTE Academy, Sturgis, and Vermillion.

• Story angle:      A well-tuned car runs better and uses less fuel but who is going to keep that vehicle in tip-top shape?  There’s a critical shortage of qualified auto technicians nationwide.  This contest encourages students to enter this in-demand, high-paying field as a career.

VISUALS:  Indoor event featuring 12 students furiously working on new Ford Mustangs, trying to be the first team to most accurately de-bug their car.

DIRECTIONS:  Southeast Technical Institute Campus, in the Ed Wood Technical Center (come around to the back).