March 29, 2024

Clarke students take fifth in DMACC auto-skills contest

Two Clarke Community High School students received fifth place in the 22nd annual Des Moines Area Community College(DMACC)/Iowa Automobile Dealers Association (IADA) Automotive Skills contest held Dec. 13 at the DMACC Ankeny Campus.

Clarke students Garrett Nelson and Derek Saucedo were the skills competition fifth place finishers. Both Nelson and Saucedo received numerous tools and supplies donated by the Iowa Automobile Dealers Association and scholarships provided by the DMACC Foundation.

Each member from the other seven teams also received tools and supplies from the association for their participation in this competition. In total, nearly $25,000 worth of tools and equipment was awarded to the contestants.

Connor Sackett and Jason Krueger from Perry High School took first place while teams from LeMars High School took second place with Des Moines Central Campus receiving third place. Other schools competing were West Delaware High School, Clarke Community High School, DMACC Warren County Career Academy, Mount Pleasant Hill School and DMACC Newton Career Academy.

Eight two-member teams of Iowa high-school automotive students qualified for the hands-on portion of the Automotive Skills contest by having the highest average scores on a written test held in October on the DMACC Ankeny Campus. Nearly 300 students representing 16 Iowa high schools competed in the written portion of the contest.

DMACC Foundation also provided $1,000 scholarships to each of the first-place finishers, $600 scholarships to each of the second-place winners, $400 scholarships to each of the third-place winners and $250 scholarships to the fourth-place finishers.