NAPA creates technician scholarship

Aspiring auto repair technicians will have access to a financial assistance program through a new scholarship program from NAPA.

The program was first announced at the recent NAPA AutoPro golf tournament for the Quebec region by Alain Primeau, regional vice president, NAPA Quebec.

The scholarship is to encourage young people to pursue an education in mechanics to boost the pool of qualified technicians to meet the recruitment needs of service centres. “The idea to create a scholarship program to support workforce development and ensure young mechanics have the skills that shops are looking for came about at an advisory committee meeting for NAPA AutoPro members,” Primeau said.

The goal is $10,000 in scholarships this year, said André Couture, regional director of NAPA AUTOPRO for the Quebec region. “All proceeds from today’s golf tournament will be awarded as scholarships and we intend to host other events over the course of the year to fund the program.”

Scholarship recipients will be chosen by a committee made up of Serge Pelletier, a former NAPA AutoPro director, Pierre Beaudoin, CAA-Quebec’s former senior director of technical services, and Roger Goudreau, executive director of AIA Quebec. The 2017 recipients will be selected at the start of the school year in September from a list of candidates submitted by the Comité Éducation Travail en Équipement Motorisé du Montréal Métropolitain (CÉTÉMMM).

“We are thrilled to be a part of this initiative to help young people who are interested in the field of mechanics,” said Dominique Bousquet, president of CÉTÉMMM. “The NAPA AUTOPRO scholarship will give young apprentices an invaluable head start, while training the next generation for service centres.”

Recipients of a scholarship for this year will be invited to attend the NAPA AutoPro Convention, to be held on September 15-16 at the Fairmont Tremblant hotel in Mont-Tremblant, Que.