Two Newton Auto Tech students from Marion County, Nathan Amstutz of Goessel High School and Sean Leihy of Hillsboro High School, earned second place at the state Ford/AAA trouble-shooting contest finals May 10 in Kansas City. The duo qualified for the hands-on portion of the contest by taking a written test in February against about 25 other Kansas high school teams. They competed against nine other teams in the hands-on portion of the contest to repair a “bugged” (problems intentionally installed) 2007 Grand Marquis. They had 90 minutes to get their vehicle running and repair all other problems. They were one of only two teams to repair their vehicle correctly, which they did in 67 minutes. Along with the trophy, they received scholarships totaling more than $12,000 to various universities and technical colleges. Cory Unruh is the tech instructor.
