Online nominations for the 2013 Tomorrow’s Tech School of the Year program end Aug. 26. The contest, sponsored by O’Reilly Auto Parts and WIX Filters, recognizes the excellence in technical training and education in the nation’s automotive programs.
The School of the Year program (www.ttschooloftheyear.com), a national search to find and name the best technician training school in the country, is open to all high schools or post-secondary schools that have a subscription to Tomorrow’s Tech magazine.
“We are excited to continue our partnerships to support all aspects of the automotive aftermarket industry,” said Mike Harvey, brand manager for WIX Filters. “Each year, we see high-caliber nominations from the best technical schools, and we look forward to reviewing top-of-the-line school nominations for 2013.”
To nominate a school, visit http://ttschooloftheyear.com/NominationForm and fill out the short questionnaire.
Judging
The staff at Tomorrow’s Tech reviews all online entries that are submitted, be they from a student, instructor, school administrator or any automotive industry professional, and uses content from the comments section as "reasons for nomination."
Staff then visit the schools’ websites for photos and more information on their auto programs, in addition to searching the Internet for local stories/articles about the schools and their students. Also, if they have been a top school in the past, judges review materials/videos that they submitted in previous years.
The Top 20 Schools list is created from that process and those schools are named in the September issue of Tomorrow’s Tech.
Students, instructors and school faculty are then requested to create a video about their automotive program, which will be hosted on the Tomorrow’s Tech YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/tomorrowstechnician.
Judges from Tomorrow’s Tech, WIX Filters and O’Reilly Auto Parts review the videos from the Top 20 schools to narrow the selection down to four regional finalists that will be named in the October issue of the magazine and also via social media. Judges review entry criteria and select one top school from each of the four regions in the U.S.
The winner will be selected from the four finalists and announced at the Automotive Aftermarket Products Expo (AAPEX) in November. This is the sixth year a school will be recognized.
Past winners of the contest are:
• Clover Park Technical College in Lakewood, Wash. (2012);
• Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, Colo. (2011);
• Caddo Career & Technology Center in Shreveport, La. (2010);
• Ohio Technical College in Cleveland, Ohio (2009); and
• Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove, Ill. (2008).
View videos from last year’s participating schools at http://www.youtube.com/tomorrowstechnician.
