SWCC automotive students place at Iowa auto skills contest

Southwestern Community College (SWCC) students Hunter Ernst of Greenfield and Aden Cosner of Lorimor placed third in the hands-on portion of the 2019 DMACC/IADA High School Automotive Skills Contest Friday, Dec. 13 at Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny. This competition recognizes some of the best high school auto technicians in the state.

These SWCC students qualified for the statewide competition following a written exam administered in October 2019. The top scoring teams were then invited to Ankeny to participate in the hands-on competition. During the hands-on portion of the competition, autos were “bugged” with identical problems. The students diagnosed the issues during a 90-minute contest.

Ernst is a senior at Nodaway Valley High School in Greenfield and Cosner is a junior at East Union High School in Afton. Wyatt Schneider, a senior at Nodaway Valley High School, was the alternative should one of the other two not have been able to compete.

These students are taking classes at SWCC through the high school automotive repair technology Career Academy. These programs offer high school students opportunities to take career and technical-related coursework at the college thanks to cooperative agreements between SWCC and their local high schools.

Grant Cupp, SWCC automotive repair technology instructor, accompanied the students to the competition.