Windham Tech Auto Program Wins 2009 State Ford/AAA Finals

The Team of Eric Roarabaugh and Ryan Schneider from Windham Technical High School of Willimantic came in first in the Ford/AAA Auto Skills Competition held at the North Haven Campus of Gateway Community College on Wednesday, May 13, 2009.  Roarabaugh and Schneider competed against nine other teams from state Technical High Schools from around the state.  Students earned the right to compete in the state finals based on scores from tests taken online. Twenty students were chosen from over 150 students from 19 schools taking the exam.

Students competed on identically prepared 2009 Ford Focus vehicles. The cars had faults or "bugs" placed in the cars and the students' task was to find and repair problems and replace defective parts. The students had 90 minutes in which to complete all repairs and drive the car to final judging.

Roarabaugh, Schneider and their instructor Mr. Brendan Smith each won an all-expense paid trip to Dearborn, Michigan to compete in the National Finals in June. 

1st place - Windham Tech - Eric Roarabaugh, Ryan Schneider, instructor Brendan Smith

2nd place - Cheney Tech - David Caldwell, Thai Lo, instructor David Morello

3rd place - Wilcox Tech - Russell Fladd, Chris Dziurgot, instructor Jamie Despres
Also 1st place in Written Exam

4th place - Bristol TEC - James Crowther, Kyle Kupson, instructor Kirk Stankiewicz

5th place - Wolcott Tech -  Bartholomew Languell, Steve Mosca, instructor Ray Royals

Other Finalists

Ellis Tech -  Jared Roy, Ethan Williams, instructor Ignacio Vega

Goodwin Tech -  Andrew Gesner, James Widdecomb, instructor Reuben Charles

Norwich Tech -  Robert Faraci, Jeffrey Phillips, instructor Andre Grenier

Platt Tech -  Konstantino Georgiadis, Ivan Cordova, instructor Alex Andrzejewski

Wright Tech -  Sean Kurz, Adam Mariak, instructor Albert Horvath