WAIMEA — Earlier this week, Matt DeCosta was practicing for the Ford/AAA competition on a Ford Fusion car. “The challenge was to diagnose the problem with the air conditioner,” the Waimea High School senior said. “It took me about a
WAIMEA — Earlier this week, Matt DeCosta was practicing for the Ford/AAA competition on a Ford Fusion car.
“The challenge was to diagnose the problem with the air conditioner,” the Waimea High School senior said. “It took me about a half hour.”
His skills under the hood of a car will be put to the ultimate auto mechanic test Saturday as he tries to find the intentional problems in “bugged” 2014 Fords.
“I’ve tried to prepare my students and hopefully they are ready,” said WHS teacher Bob Saligumba.
DeCosta and fellow senior Anderson Kahale will be up against five teams from island schools. If they win, they will move on to a national competition in June in Dearborn, N.J., where millions of dollars in scholarships and prizes will be up for grabs.
Students will be scored on time and accuracy in detecting planted problems and making the necessary repairs. It will be the 65th year of the competition, a method for recruiting talented technician professionals.
DeCosta said he wasn’t always into cars, even though he grew up watching his dad, who worked as a mechanic.
“I would be with my dad under this tent, where he would be working on cars,” DeCosta said. “I used to get scolded for playing with his tools.”
In high school, DeCosta’s passion for repairing cars took hold in Saligumba’s class. Now, he loves fixing cars, including his friend’s Nissan truck.
“I like to see people’s faces after I’ve fixed their cars,” said DeCosta, who will enter the University Technical Institute in July for an 18-month program.
The nation’s demand for auto mechanics is expected to grow nearly 20 percent from 2010 to 2020, adding 124,800 jobs for a total of 848,200, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Auto technicians overall earned an average of $35,790 a year, but 10 percent earned more than $59,590, in 2010, the most recent year for which the BLS has data.
Saligumba has been teaching the ins and outs of repairing cars for 23 years. For this year’s competition, all of his students qualified, but only the top two scorers on the written test will be competing.
Saligumba has witnessed a number of success stories with his previous students.
“One of my 2005 graduates owns his own towing and repair shop in Lihue,” he said. “Another one is working at a local auto repair center.”
The timed, hands-on Ford/AAA competition will be 10 a.m. at Honolulu Community College.
• Lisa Ann Capozzi, features and education reporter, can be reached at 245-0452 or lcapozzi@thegardenisland.com.
