Practice Pays Off for Hunterdon County Polytech Students

Flemington, N.J. – Two teams from Hunterdon County Polytech and Career and Technical School recently placed first and second, out of 70 teams, at the Universal Technical Institute (UTI) Top Tech Challenge. Teams from all over the East Coast competed in hands-on and written automotive tests to assess their knowledge on vehicle parts, brakes, diagnostics, electrical systems and more. The Hunterdon County Polytech team of Austin Tarby and Patrick Willey came in first, followed by classmates Nicolas DeLuca and Drew Thomas in second. The students won trophies, $3,500 worth of tools per team and scholarships to UTI worth $40,000 for each first-place winner and $35,000 for each second-place winner.

The award-winning Polytech students are all seniors enrolled in the Automotive Technology II course led by instructor Chris Scheuerman. Although the students apply much of what they learn in class to succeed in competition, they also benefit from extra practice sessions offered by Scheuerman. Leading up to competition, they meet with Scheuerman two nights a week.

“The one-on-one trainings help accelerate students’ learning,” said Scheuerman. “These wins show that our students truly committed themselves to understanding the material. They also demonstrate how well our students stack up against the competition, including students who come from four-year schools.”

Scheuerman continues to meet with the students after school hours to prepare for the next round of competitions. Austin and Patrick will next compete in the NJ CAR Hands-on Contest on Jan. 19 at Brookdale Community College. Nicolas and Drew will take a qualifying exam on Jan. 8 for a Hands-on Contest March 13 at Northampton Community College. All four of the students also hone their skills with on-the-job training. Austin works at Rossi Chevrolet, Patrick works at American Tire in Flemington, Nicolas works part time at Quality Auto Repair and Drew works at Flemington Chrysler.

Learn more about Hunterdon County Polytech’s Automotive Technology Program at an upcoming open house for the school on Saturday, Jan. 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on all three of its campuses. The Automotive Technology Program operates out of the Central Campus located at 10 Junction Rd. in Flemington.

Hunterdon County Polytech Career and Technical School is the largest component of Hunterdon County Vocational School District (HCVSD). Polytech is the district’s shared-time high school that prepares students for a seamless transition to college and career paths. HCVSD also operates an Adult and Continuing Education school and three science-based high school academies: the Biomedical Sciences Academy, the Computer Science and Applied Engineering Academy and the Environmental Sustainability and Engineering Academy. Learn more at www.hcvsd.org.

All pupils will be given equal opportunity for enrollment in programs operated by the Hunterdon County Vocational School District regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, marital status, affectional or sexual orientation, gender, religion, disability, or socioeconomic status (34 C.F.R. Part 100, Appendix B, Section IV-A). No qualified handicapped person shall, on the basis of handicap, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or otherwise be subjected to discrimination under any program or activity which receives federal financial assistance, et seq (34 C.F.R. Part 104.4(a)(b).

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Photo Caption: Pictured from left to right with their trophies from the UTI Top Tech Challenge are Hunterdon County Polytech’s Drew Thomas, Patrick Willey and Austin Tarby.