More Than Auto DealersEast Norriton, Pa., March 12, 2025 – The Auto Dealers Association of Greater Philadelphia celebrated its 32nd annual Greater Philadelphia Auto Technology Competition (Tech Comp) on Friday, March 7. At the event, 24 area high school seniors put their automotive skills to the test in a hands-on technician skills challenge and competed for more than $1 million in scholarships, tools and prizes.
This year, first place was captured by Matthew Hood and Matthew Levesque of Middle Bucks Institute of Technology. The winning duo, which was led by Instructor Rob Schwarz and sponsored by Keystone Volvo Cars of Doylestown, walked away with more than $290,000 in scholarships and prizes collectively. Second place was awarded to Ryan Blankenbiller and Jacob Fost of Berks Career and Technology Center – East. Under the direction of Instructor Keith Nichols and sponsored by Miracle Chevrolet of Morgantown, the team won more than $200,000 in scholarships and prizes. Jacob Dunbar and Yaseen Williams of Burlington County Institute of Technology rounded out the leaderboard with their third-place win. Instructor David Sitchler and Dealer Sponsor Burns Hyundai helped the pair win more than $100,000 in scholarships and prizes, respectively.
During the timed, hands-on automotive technical skills competition, students tested their knowledge at 10 workstations and performed a Multi-Point Inspection of a new vehicle. The competing teams were from the following schools: Berks Career and Technology Center – East, Bucks County Technical High School, Burlington County Institute of Technology, Central Montco Technical High School, Delaware County Technical High School, Eastern Center for Arts and Technology, Mercer County Technical Schools, Middle Bucks Institute of Technology, North Montco Technical Career Center, Technical College High School – Brandywine, Upper Bucks County Technical School and Western Montgomery Career and Technology Center.
Today’s auto technicians must have highly-polished math and computer skills in addition to mechanical aptitude. This competition focuses on all those skill sets. The first part of the regional competition involved a written exam last January at the Philadelphia Auto Show. The exam covered electric vehicle safety and the eight National Institute of Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) areas of the automobile, which are Engine Repair, Engine Performance, Electrical/Electronic Systems, Brakes, Heating and Air Conditioning, Suspension and Steering, Manual Drive Train and Axles and Automatic Transmissions. There were more than 100 students from the Greater Philadelphia Region who took the written exam. The two highest scoring students from the top 12 schools are those who qualified for the March 7th hands-on portion of the competition.
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