Scholarships Support Future Technicians

The Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium (GAAS) is addressing the critical shortage of automotive technicians by awarding the majority of its 2004 scholarships to students in automotive vocational-technical programs.
Of the 181 students receiving GAAS scholarships, 136 are in vo-tech schools. Scholarships also were awarded to 22 Canadian students and 23 students in four-year colleges or universities.
In the seven years of the scholarship, nearly 700 students have received aid totalling nearly $600,000.
The annual investment to help develop future aftermarket industry leaders is funded through proceeds from the annual Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium. This two-day program brings together numerous industry executives and examines the issues and trends affecting the automotive aftermarket industry and influencing its future. GAAS has become the aftermarket’s premier educational conference. The 2004 event is set for Tuesday and Wednesday, May 18-19, in Hyatt Regency O’Hare, Chicago, Ill. Details are at www.globalsymposium.org.
The scholarships are available to students in two-year technical college programs and vocational schools and four-year college programs. To be eligible for a GAAS scholarship, applicants must be enrolled full-time in a college-level program or a NATEF (National Automotive Technician Education Foundation) accredited automotive technical program. Graduate programs and part-time undergraduate programs do not qualify.
The GAAS scholarship is also unique in that recipients can receive two financial grants: one while in school to assist with tuition and an equivalent grant awarded to all scholarship recipients who graduate from their program and show proof of employment in the automotive aftermarket for at least six months after graduation.
Scholarship applications will be available Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2003, from the industry associations that sponsor GAAS. Applicants can also contact the University of the Aftermarket at 816-523-8118 or Schona Evans at 816-361-6588 (sevans@awda.org) for applications.
For more information on the scholarship or to download an application form, applicants can also go to www.automotivescholarships.com. A separate application for Canadian students is available from the Automotive Industries Association (AIA) of Canada at 613-728-5821, or at the organization’s Web site: www.aiacanada.com. Deadline for 2003 scholarship applications is Wednesday, March 31, 2004.