The Perry community was well represented recently when 10 Perry High School students and 13 students from the Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Perry VanKirk Career Academy competed in the DMACC/Iowa Automobile Dealers Association (IADA) Automotive Skills Contest at the DMACC Ankeny Campus.
The Perry students were among nearly 300 competitors from 17 high schools across Iowa taking part in the written portion of the 24th annual contest. Of these, eight two-member teams of high school automotive students qualified for the hands-on portion of the Automotive Skills Contest by earning the highest average scores on the written test.
Two Perry VanKirk Career Academy students, Timothy Twogood and Noah Brandt, were chosen by their high school automotive instructor to compete in the hands-on portion of the skills contest in December. The hands-on contest will include skill-based stations in eight automotive areas: engine mechanical, automatic transmission, manual transmission and drive trains, steering and suspension, brakes, electrical diagnosis, engine performance and heating and air conditioning.
Twogood and Brandt also have a chance to win up to $1,500 in tools and equipment donated by the IADA, and the DMACC Foundation will provide scholarships for winning team members, according to DMACC Automotive Technology Program Chairperson Jerry Burns.
The teams taking part in the hands-on portion in December include Algona High School, Ames DMACC Career Academy, Ankeny DMACC Career Academy, Des Moines Central Campus, Mount Pleasant High School, Nodaway Valley High School, Perry High School and West Delaware High School. The alternate school is Lenox High School.
