Automotive students advance to national competition

Two students from the automotive program at Thomas Edison CTE High School have won first place in the New York State Finals of the National Automotive Technology Competition and will represent New York as they move on to the national competition next month.
Andrew Defreitas, a senior, spoke about winning the state finals as he proudly held up his medal and scholarship certificate. Behind him was a 2005 Toyota Solara that was also awarded to the students for use in the school for diagnosing and training.
“I was in shock. I didn’t think we were going to take first place,” he said. “Everything wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. When we finished faster than everyone else, I was sure we missed something.”
Defreitas and his teammate Adityanand Persaud, also a senior, have been preparing for the competition since September, with the instruction of teachers Barry Roopnarine and Jim Massa.
Massa said that he and Roopnarine have been training the students for the national round of the competition from the very beginning.
The students will be competing against more than 30 teams from across the nation and one team from Canada. It will take place on March 25 and 26 at the Jacob Javits Center during the New York International Auto Show.
The students were selected at the beginning of the academic year to be part of the team. It is an entirely voluntary activity, in which the students participate in addition to their regular course load.
“We get here at about 7 a.m. and sometimes don’t leave until about 7 or 8 p.m.,” Defreitas said, as he described a typical day of working on cars and going to classes.
Thomas Edison High School is a Career and Technical Education school, and was recently ranked 6th out of 18,000 schools nationally.
Following graduation, Defreitas said that he plans to continue in the automotive technology field, while Persaud said he is still unsure.
Roopnarine added, “Being a part of the team and doing the competitions helps them get job offers.”
A team of two students from the high school competes each year. Massa said they always do well, and two years ago the team made it to the national competition and came out in sixth place.
As for this year, “I’m probably more nervous than they are,” Massa said. “But I have all the confidence in the world, I think there is an excellent chance they will win.”
If they win, both students will receive a 2008 Pontiac Solstice upon graduation and thousands of dollars in scholarship money.
Both of the teachers stated repeatedly that the students have worked extremely hard, adding that they enjoy helping the students because the students get a lot out of it.
“I’m kind of nervous, only because we made it this far,” Defreitas said. “The final round is right there, so it would be hard not to make it all the way.”