AASP-MN Awards Scholarships to Automotive Students

The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Minnesota (AASP-MN) is pleased to announce scholarship awards totaling $18,000 to help automotive service and collision repair students pay for tuition and tools during the 2017-18 school year. The scholarships are in the amount of $1,000 per student and were made possible by a successful fundraising drive within the AASP-MN membership, as well as a generous donation from the Minnesota State I-CAR Committee.

Twenty college students from 9 schools submitted scholarship applications. This year also marked the first time that AASP-MN opened the scholarships to high school students entering their first year of a 2-year NATEF-certified automotive program, resulting in an additional 9 applicants. Applications were reviewed by a committee of industry representatives, with consideration given to scholastic achievement, education and career goals, financial need and written recommendations.

College recipients were:

• Samantha Adams, MN State Community & Technical College, Moorhead – Automotive Service Technology
• Trevor Bitterman, South Central College, Mankato – Auto Body Collision Repair
• Joshua Bradfield, Century College, White Bear Lake – Automotive Service Technology
• Ben DeMarais, MN State Community & Technical College, Moorhead – Automotive Service Technology
• Paul Gilpin, Dakota County Technical College, Rosemount – Automotive Service Technology
• Jordan Hockens, Rochester Community & Technical College, Rochester – Automotive Service Technology
• Wyatt Krampitz, South Central College, Mankato – Auto Body Collision Repair
• Benjamin Lamb, Century College, White Bear Lake – Automotive Service Technology
• Angel Paucar, Dunwoody College of Technology, Minneapolis – Auto Body Collision Repair
• Gabino Rodriguez-Arguelles, South Central College, Mankato – Auto Body Collision Repair
• Jacob Simmel, Century College, White Bear Lake – Automotive Service Technology
• Trieu Tran, Century College, White Bear Lake – Automotive Service Technology
• Billy Watson, St. Cloud Community & Technical College, St. Cloud – Auto Body Collision Repair

Five scholarships were awarded to high school students – one Auto Body Collision Repair student entering Hennepin Technical College, Eden Prairie and four Automotive Service Technology students entering Dakota County Technical College, St. Cloud
Technical College, Century College and Central Lakes College.

Congratulations to all of this year’s recipients!

The scholarship awards are the centerpiece of AASP-MN’s Automotive Education Fund, which was established to provide financial resources to support automotive students, enhance automotive programs and raise awareness of career opportunities in the independent automotive service industry.

The Alliance of Automotive Service Providers of Minnesota (AASP-MN) is an association of nearly 800 independently-owned automotive service businesses and industry suppliers dedicated to improving the state’s automotive service industry and the success of its members.

Written by Judell Anderson

16 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *