Bethlehem students victorious in 12th annual Lehigh Valley auto-tech competition

The pair was one of seven teams tasked with finding and fixing bugs and technical problems in 2013 Dodge Darts. See PHOTOS.

Two Bethlehem students grew up taking things apart — and today they raced the clock to fix the latest in car technology.

Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School students Aron Nemes, 18, and Ethan Gaither, 17, won the 12th annual Greater Lehigh Valley Auto Dealers Association Auto-Tech Competition today at Northampton County Community College.

The two were one of seven teams tasked with finding and fixing bugs and technical problems in 2013 Dodge Darts.

“It’s just always been something that I like to do,” Nemes said. “I kind of grew up doing it, grew up taking things apart.”

The winning team, as well as their two instructors, will compete in April in the National Automotive Technology Competition in New York City. Teams from the Bethlehem school have won the local competition the last two years and gone on to place nationally, instructor Jeff Cantrel, who first became involved with the competition when he was a student, said.

Students are selected by instructors for the competition and train for months. A team from Hunterdon County Polytech Career Academy spent the past three months preparing for the competition, said instructor Chris Scheuerman.  

“Not only do they have to be prepared physically, but they need to be prepared mentally,” he said. “It’s a very big job, and they’re young kids.”

The competition is designed to motivate high school students and train them in the developing complexities of automotive technology, said Doug Strohl, chairman of the dealers association and owner of Strohl Automotive in Upper Macungie Township.

“There’s a big need for qualified auto technicians,” he said. “There’s a tremendous amount of complexity in these cars, and the technicians, they need to be trained.”

The community college and the dealers association work together to find work for students, said Warren Farnell, director of the school’s auto-tech program. The school trains students for entry-level positions, and the association offers scholarships to competitors who choose to attend the college.  

“It’s really a win-win situation,” he said.

Hunterdon Polytech students Joe Scibilia, 18, and Kyriakos Savidis, 19, said the competition proved challenging but wasn’t as difficult as they’d anticipated.

“It’s a blast,” Savidis said. “It’s just nice to put into practice what we’ve been learning.”

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WINNERS

The top finishers in the 12th annual Greater Lehigh Valley Auto Dealers Association Auto-Tech Competition at Northampton County Community College:

First Place: Bethlehem Area Vocational-Technical School 

Second Place: Lehigh Career and Technical Institute

Third Place: Monroe Career and Technical Institute