Auto class takes tech challenge

As many mechanics do, Baylen Mineer tends to talk with his hands when explaining things. With his partner Michael Fuller, right, the two took first place as a team in the Top Tech Challenge at Universal Technical Institute in Avondale.
Zack Garcia/Larson Newspapers

It wasn’t necessarily all about the cars for two students at Mingus Union High School. It was about the electricity.
Baylen Mineer and Michael Fuller, juniors at the school, joined other students from auto instructor Brian Tankesley’s advanced class to compete in the Top Tech Challenge Earlier this month at Universal Technical Institute in Avondale.

The Mingus students placed first overall. Mineer took first place when it came to overall individual scores.

 

“It was a pretty big place,” Mineer said. “About 37,000 square feet.”

Tankesley said the school had also gone to compete in April, when it placed 12th overall so things are moving on up at Mingus.

The challenge involved a number of things, Tankesley said, including computer diagnostics and electrical system.

As one part of the challenge, Tankesley said the students had to look at a blower with a motor problem, figure out the issue and get it running again.

There was also a written test.

For their efforts, the students won $2,000 worth of tools from Snap-On, including a meter, along with a $2,500 tool box for the school.

To read the full story, see the Wednesday, Dec. 17, edition of the Cottonwood Journal Extra.

Mark Lineberger

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