On Friday, May 9, Autos Teacher Justin Buntrock took a handful of students to Madison for the Annual Firestone Challenge. In this automotive competition, students use the skills they have learned in auto classes, in their work outside of school in Youth Apprenticeships, or from work on their own to compete against students from other area schools. Schools competing this year included Jefferson, McFarland, Stoughton, Madison, and Verona, among others.
Students competed in challenges like tire rotations, electrical, part ID, scan tool, and spark plug removal. Whitewater High School fielded four teams: Calli Hartzheim and Kara Long, Brody Freeman and Kevin Gonzalez, Eddie Rohloff and Jake Luebker, and Edrick Camacho Rivera and Aaron Aranda Porras. They all competed very well, scoring low times on all their challenges. Eddie and Jake placed in the top 6 out of over 30 teams! Mr. Buntrock shared that he was VERY proud of ALL of them!
The competition featured fun activities as well. Students got to vote on cars in their car show, and teachers raced against other teachers in a remote control drag car race. (Mr. Buntrock lost in the first round of the tournament.) The hosts demonstrated an airbag detonation with little rubber duckies, and they intentionally added sand and peat gravel into an engine block so the students could see how long it would take to lock it up. Overall, this was a great experience for our young automotive Whippets!