Texas State Technical College hosts auto collision Battle Royale

Texas State Technical College (TSTC) Waco’s Auto Collision and Management program recently hosted its first Battle Royale competition at the Fentress Center. 

Students competed in collision repair and refinishing contests, depending on the certificate or associate degree program they are pursuing, an Instagram post from the college states. The contests included dent repair, marking, panel blocking, and preparation. Students also completed an interview for the competition. 

The provost’s office at the Waco campus provided scholarship funding for the winning students, and industry partners supported the event through sponsorships and in-kind donations, the post adds. 

Local news station KWTX reports industry representatives attended the event to observe the competition and connect with prospective technicians. 

Competitor Nery Martinez, a refinishing student, told KWTX the event introduced him to the high-pressure demands of the trade. 

“Today, we got an interview, which is most important; we got to run down how an interview goes, and we got to mask a car, basically showing us if we can handle how to mask a car the right, proper way,” Martinez said in the newscast. 

Martinez works prep with his father at Alliance Collision and told KWTX that automotive painting runs in his family. 

“I want to give props to my Dad. He’s a painter himself to this day,” Martinez told the news station. “He graduated from this school about 20 years ago, and he motivates me every day just to keep pushing. Because he did it, why can’t I?”

TSTC provides hands-on training, Martinez told KWTX. 

“It’s stressful, of course, but deep down, you’ve got to give it what you got. It’s not about the next person beside you,” Martinez said in the interview. “That’s how it is in the real world; they ask for what you got, not what your partner got.”

Collision Repair Winners: 

• • First place: Kevin Crispin of Bryan
  • Second place: Horacio Gonzalez of Hillsboro
  • Third place: Osvaldo Agonizante of Waco

Refinishing Category Winners: 

• • First place: Jacob Parga of Fort Worth
  • Second place: Leah Coleman of Wichita Falls
  • Third place: Angel Becerril of Corsicana

Images

Photos courtesy of Texas State Technical College