Twenty high school students from across Ohio, including Zach Cozadd a Bluffton High School and Apollo Career Center student, will put their knowledge of automobiles to the test as they compete in the 63rd annual Ford/AAA Auto Skills State Competition at Owens Community College on Thursday, May 10.

The contest will occur from 10 a.m. - 12 p.m. at the College's Center for Emergency Preparedness on the Toledo-area Campus in Perrysburg Township.

Cozaad and Apollo team members Sebastian Moneer of Spencerville have quaified to compete.

"Owens Community College is proud to collaborate with the Ford Motor Co. and AAA and support an event that enables high school students to showcase their knowledge and skills specific to the automotive industry," said Nick Shultz, Owens Instructor of Transportation Technologies and Technical Competition Manager for the state competition. "Ohio's Ford/AAA Auto Skills State Competition is one of the largest in the country. The participants are extremely talented, which will certainly make for a very exciting day of competition."

Sponsored by the Ford Motor Co. and AAA, the state contest will involve 10 high school teams, consisting of two students, completing various testing to determine their expertise of automobiles.

As part of the practical skills competition, teams will be required to locate, identify and repair malfunctions on new 2012 Ford Fusion vehicles, which are donated by the Hertz Corp. Once the vehicle is properly diagnosed and repaired, the teams must drive across the finish line, where the vehicle will be inspected by judges, comprised of automotive industry professionals.

The top teams will be awarded scholarships and prizes with the championship team also advancing to the National Finals at the Ford Motor Co. in Dearborn, Mich., June 10-12. Over 12,000 students from across the United States annually compete for the chance to represent their school and state in the National Finals. The Ford/AAA Auto Skills State Competitions will offer nearly $12 million in scholarships this year to students at both the state and national levels.

High schools and students participating in the state competition are Apollo Career Center in Lima (Sebastian Moneer of Spencerville and Zach Cozadd of Bluffton), Coshocton County Career Center in Coshocton (Tyler Hostetler of Newcomerstown and Ben Modesitt of Frazeysburg), EHOVE Career Center in Milan (Roy Hinckley of Wakeman and Nathan Summers of Wakeman), Fairfield Career Center in Carroll (Tyler Milisits of Sugar Grove and Jake Kidd of Carroll), Miami Valley Career Technology Center in Clayton (Zachary Abner of Farmersville and Joseph Anderson of Englewood), Sentinel Career and Technology Center in Tiffin (Ricardo Galvan of Fostoria and Brandon Seasly of Republic), Tolles Career and Technical Center in Plain City (Samuel Ford of Columbus and Justin Reisinger of West Jefferson), Trumbull Career and Technical Center in Warren (Liki Turner of Warren and Robert Strohmeyer of Brookfield), Valley Forge High School in Parma Heights (Vitaliy Reshetnyak of Parma Heights and Kamil Falkowski of Parma Heights) and Whitmer Career and Technology Center in Toledo (Josiah Meiring of Toledo and Michael Stockdale of Toledo).

This marks the third time (2003 and 2004) that Owens has served as host site for the state competition.