Trade Secrets DEC - MOTOR · high school transcripts gave a GPA were at 3.0 or higher. •77% of...
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8 December 2016 Scholarships are available to assist talented newcomers who wish to enter the automotive aftermarket. You may not be aware of this opportunity; if so, now’s the time to check it out. Trade Secrets Bob Cerullo [email protected] W hen you’re raising a son or daughter, any finan- cial help you can get to pay for their educa- tion is always welcome. There are nearly 40 separate sources of money your child could get, but they need to apply. Chances are you’re not familiar with the University of the Aftermarket Foundation (UAF), an organization that works every day toward making sure you’re not left out of the ever-changing and increasingly complex auto- motive aftermarket. The UAF is an organization whose focus is, naturally enough, the wellbeing of the automotive aftermarket. It was established in 1986 to maintain the automotive aftermarket in the form that had proven so successful for more than 50 years. The goal of the Founda- tion is to increase the business management skills and professionalism of those directly involved in the aftermarket. The Foundation supervises the awarding of over $8 million in scholarships and grants to people entering or currently involved in the automotive after- market. Here is where you as an automotive tech- nician or shop owner come into the picture. The Foundation each year awards scholar- ships of $1000 to $2000 to students who are working hard to become mechanical, collision or heavy-duty repair professionals, or are pur- suing a business or engineering degree that will lead to a career in the automotive after- market. The UAF partners with a variety of aftermarket companies that provide scholar- ship money specifically targeted to your kids, your employees or you. The requirements vary from company to company, so the UAF operates as a sort of clearinghouse for appli- cations, then directs them to these organiza- tions for their approval. I spoke with Pete Kornafel, chairman of the Foundation’s Scholarship Selection Com- mittee. Pete has been very much a part of the automotive aftermarket since he was seven years old. He said his first job was “cleaning out the soluble oil sludge tank from the fly- wheel grinder because nobody else wanted to do that job.” His mom and dad owned a specialty engine parts distribution company in Colorado. Pete worked for Ford Motor Company in the ’60s. When Pete’s dad died suddenly, his mom ran the business for two years. Then Pete and his wife moved back to Colorado and took over the business. Pete and his wife grew the company from about 15 to 215 employees. There are few people who know more about the automotive aftermarket than Pete Kornafel. “My personal advice to a parent is that regardless of how it turns out, the kids will do best if they choose something they like,” Pete told me. “If you can teach them to like your business, that is where they will wind up. Brigida Marsh-Romano was a 2014 University of the Aftermarket Foundation scholarship recipient. She used her award to attend the Automotive Training Program at Kilgore College in Texas and is now working as a service writer and technician at an independent shop in that state. Photo courtesy University of the Aftermarket Foundation
Transcript of Trade Secrets DEC - MOTOR · high school transcripts gave a GPA were at 3.0 or higher. •77% of...
8 December 2016
Scholarships are available to assist talented newcomers who
wish to enter the automotive aftermarket. You may not be
aware of this opportunity; if so, now’s the time to check it out.
Trade Secrets
Bob Cerullo
When you’re raising a son or daughter, any finan-cial help you can get to pay for their educa-tion is always welcome. There are nearly 40
separate sources of money your child could get, but they need to apply.
Chances are you’re not familiar with the University of the Aftermarket Foundation (UAF), an organization that works every day toward making sure you’re not left out of the ever-changing and increasingly complex auto-motive aftermarket.
The UAF is an organization whose focus is, naturally enough, the wellbeing of the automotive aftermarket. It was established in 1986 to maintain the automotive aftermarket in the form that had proven so successful for more than 50 years. The goal of the Founda-tion is to increase the business management
skills and professionalism of those directly involved in the aftermarket. The Foundation supervises the awarding of over $8 million in scholarships and grants to people entering or currently involved in the automotive after-market.
Here is where you as an automotive tech-nician or shop owner come into the picture. The Foundation each year awards scholar-ships of $1000 to $2000 to students who are working hard to become mechanical, collision or heavy-duty repair professionals, or are pur-suing a business or engineering degree that will lead to a career in the automotive after-market. The UAF partners with a variety of aftermarket companies that provide scholar-ship money specifically targeted to your kids, your employees or you. The requirements vary from company to company, so the UAF operates as a sort of clearinghouse for appli-cations, then directs them to these organiza-tions for their approval.
I spoke with Pete Kornafel, chairman of the Foundation’s Scholarship Selection Com-mittee. Pete has been very much a part of the automotive aftermarket since he was seven years old. He said his first job was “cleaning out the soluble oil sludge tank from the fly-wheel grinder because nobody else wanted to do that job.” His mom and dad owned a specialty engine parts distribution company in Colorado. Pete worked for Ford Motor Company in the ’60s. When Pete’s dad died suddenly, his mom ran the business for two years. Then Pete and his wife moved back to Colorado and took over the business. Pete and his wife grew the company from about 15 to 215 employees. There are few people who know more about the automotive aftermarket than Pete Kornafel.
“My personal advice to a parent is that regardless of how it turns out, the kids will do best if they choose something they like,” Pete told me. “If you can teach them to like your business, that is where they will wind up.
Brigida Marsh-Romano was a 2014 University of the Aftermarket Foundation scholarship recipient. She used her award to attend the Automotive Training Program at Kilgore College in Texas and is now working as a service writer and technician at an independent shop in that state.
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If that doesn’t work, send them on their way.”
Pete then told me about Brigida Marsh-Romano, who was a recipient of a 2014 University of the After-market Foundation scholarship. She applied her award toward tuition in the Automotive Technician Training program at Kilgore College in Texas. She graduated with an Associate of Applied Science in Automotive de-gree and is now working as a service writer and technician at an indepen-dent repair shop in Texas.
The Auto Care Association con-ducted a survey of more than 1800 scholarship winners from 2008 to 2015. Of the 287 responses received, 33 winners replied they’re still in col-lege; 200 of the 252 who provided employment data (79%) listed an automotive or heavy-duty industry employer, 48 listed a nonautomotive employer and four said they were currently unemployed. Incidentally, 22 of the 2016 scholarship recipients are veterans, and nine of those listed the Army or Marines as their current or most recent employer.
Most scholarships run in the $1000 to $2000 range, and it’s possible to earn more than one. Recently, 50 or more applicants earned three schol-arships, which could be several thou-sand dollars combined. Last year, one applicant won a $10,000 schol-arship from the Car Care Council Women’s Board through the Univer-sity of the Aftermarket Foundation.
Most of the scholarships require the recipient to be preparing for a career in the automotive aftermarket. However, some allow applicants to pursue any major. Several state as-sociations have awarded scholarships to students in nursing, education and other fi elds.
To apply for 2017 scholarship awards for your son or daughter at http://www.automotivescholarships.com/, you must do so by March 31, 2017. To fi nd what schools might be the best fi t, go to the NATEF web-site http://www.natef.org/Home.asx, where you’ll find a list of accredit-ed automotive vocational schools by state and by program. If they want
management training, there are a number of great schools with four-year business and/or engineering de-grees with an automotive industry focus—Northwood University, the University of Northwestern Ohio, Rio Hondo College, Colorado State University Pueblo, Alfred State Col-lege and Ferris State University, to name a few.
I wondered what the chances were of a student being awarded a schol-arship. UAF provided the following analysis of the 2016 scholarship win-ners (including UAF and all collabo-rating organizations). Candidates’ ac-ademic performance must continue to be outstanding to be considered:
•84% of the 246 winners whose high school transcripts gave a GPA were at 3.0 or higher.
•77% of the 160 winners whose high school transcripts gave class rank were in the top half.
•88% of the 146 winners who sub-mitted postsecondary transcripts had a 3.0 or higher GPA.
Not surprisingly, most scholarship winners are training to become tech-nicians, with 77% taking postsecond-ary technician training programs in mechanical, collision or heavy-duty repair. Among other stats, 10% indi-cated a major in engineering, while 8% indicated a major in business (in-cluding marketing, accounting and fi nance).
The Trade Secret is that your son or daughter or valued employee could earn one (or more) of the hun-dreds of scholarships awarded each year by various automotive industry organizations. However, you must apply to have a chance to benefit. University of the Aftermarket Foun-dation scholarships are a great gift to the members of the automotive aftermarket. It would be a shame to not even try to earn one. And if you aspire to become an automo-tive instructor, then check out http://www.natef.org/NATEF-and-You/School-Administrators-Instructors/New-Instructor-Resources.aspx.
I welcome your comments on this and any other relevant topic. E-mail me at [email protected].
10 December 2016
Trade Secrets
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