La Habra High School seniors Carlos Cobos and Steven Rego won the Orange County Auto Dealers Association’s automotive technician contest and are headed to the National Automotive Technology Competition in New York next month.
Don Steves Chevrolet in La Habra sponsored the team. The family-owned dealership, headed by Don Steves, lent a 2007 Chevy Aveo to the students, according to service manager Joe Puerto.
The 14th annual contest put on by the Costa Mesa-based auto association was held at Hyundai Motor America Inc.’s headquarters in Fountain Valley.
The contest provides scholarships and helps draw attention to the shortage of auto technicians.
Puerto said he’s always looking to add to his staff of 13 technicians. The industry expects to add 32,000 jobs annually through 2014, according to the association.
Auto techs can earn up to $100,000 a year. The field requires a minimum two years of postsecondary education. Entry-level techs, with a degree at a trade university, can make about $12 an hour at Don Steves, Puerto said.
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Pink Mascara store in Woodbury Town Center: first for Costa Mesa retailer, which got its start on the Web |
San Clemente High School students Sean Spaulding and Logan Bates placed second. Phillips Buick Pontiac Mazda sponsored the team.
In third place were Roy Fulk and Anil Suresh from the North Orange County Regional Occupation Program at Loara High School in Anaheim, sponsored by Hardin Honda.
Other participating schools included Mission Viejo High School sponsored by Santa Margarita Ford and Woodbridge High School sponsored by Allen Cadillac GMC Hyundai.
The competition began with a 100-question test. Nearly 50 seniors from 10 local high schools took the exam. The highest scoring moved on to the competition held a couple of weeks ago.
Each student had 90 minutes to detect and repair bugs in vehicles. The auto association awarded all of the contenders one-year scholarships to pursue automotive studies. The students also received partial scholarships from Lincoln College of Technology, Ohio Technical College, Universal Technical Institute, WyoTech and Advanced Technology Institute.
Acura Honor
DCH Tustin Acura won the Acura Precision Team Award for 2006. The award is presented annually to the top 15% of dealerships that earn customer service high marks.
This is the fourth year the dealership won the award. It also earned a similar award from Westlake Village-based J.D. Power & Associates, which evaluates auto products and customer service.
Buffalo Surfer
The Surfrider Foundation honored Tucson-based Buffalo Exchange’s Michelle Livingston last month at a dinner ceremony in Dana Point.
Buffalo Exchange, which buys and sells secondhand clothing, has stores in Costa Mesa and Fullerton. The chain also sells some new clothes and accessories.
Livingston planned and organized a companywide Surf Day Dollar Day sale on Earth Day in 2004 and 2005, which raised $51,000 for Surfrider.
Surfrider was surprised that a company based in the desert could raise so much money for a coastal group, Livingston said.
Buffalo Exchange’s Fullerton store opened in September. The one at The Lab in Costa Mesa opened in 2004. The store at The Lab is one of its top performers, along with its Portland, Ore., store, Livingston said.
Milk, Eggs, DVDs
Shoppers now can rent a movie via a DVD kiosk at several local Vons grocery stores. The store has teamed up with Campbell-based DVDPlay Inc., which rents movies for $1.49 using a credit card.
No forgiveness for lateness though. Movies are due the next day and late fees are 99 cents a day. But fees are never more than $25, after which the customer would own the movie.
Vons parent Safeway Inc. gets a percent of the sales. So do individual stores, according to Laurie Garvey, spokeswoman for DVDPlay.
H & Minogue;
H & M;, which opens next month at South Coast Plaza, is going for an Australian theme for summer. Australian singer Kylie Minogue is set to be the face of H & M;’s swimwear, sales of which raise money for London-based WaterAid, which delivers clean water to poor communities.
Pink Mascara Store
Costa Mesa-based Pinkmascara.com’s first store is open at Woodbury Town Center in Irvine. The company, which sells women’s fashions, started out online. Some of the brands include Rebecca Taylor, Citizens of Humanity, 3.1 Phillip Lim, Diane Von Furstenberg, Ya-Ya Clothing and Joe’s Jeans.
