One hot summer day, for eight consecutive hours, local students William Schimberg and Liam Keller diagnosed and solved one challenging car problem after another.

They went from station to station, answering questions and demonstrating their knowledge of engines, transmission, suspension, steering, brakes, electrical systems, heating, air conditioning and more.

This was at a national championship competition for automotive service technology students, where Schimberg and Keller, who both took courses through Arapahoe Community College, wowed the judges — placing first and fourth in their respective divisions.

The competition was at the SkillsUSA National Leadership & Skills Conference, run by a national education association focused on careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations.

“(A SkillsUSA competitor) is the type of student that really wants to excel in their career — whether it's automotive, whether it's welding, aviation, cosmetology, mechatronics — whatever the category is, it always attracts a student that wants to really excel and be one of those top people in their field,” said Doc Viola, director of the auto service technology program at ACC.

Two talented students

Schimberg and Keller represented Colorado in different divisions of the national competition.

Keller, a recent alumnus from the auto service technology program at ACC, competed against other college students in the post-secondary division of the competition.

Schimberg, who graduated from Grandview High School in the Cherry Creek School District in May, competed in the secondary division against other high schoolers from around the country. During high school, Schimberg earned ACC credits through concurrent enrollment while taking classes at the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus.

Both students won other competitions on their road to nationals. After proving their abilities within their respective programs, they placed in the top rankings at regionals and won the state competition.

“It was definitely a ride,” Keller said of the journey. “I spent a lot of time (and) sacrifices outside of work and outside of school just to be able to prep to myself for the competition.”

In addition to his classwork and his job fixing cars at a Toyota dealership, Keller studied and practiced mock competition scenarios almost every day for several months leading up to the competition.

“I'm most proud of him just for the amount of effort and the amount of sacrifice he had to put into his life, just to make sure that he was the very best he could be,” said Jake Tipsword, Keller’s advisor. “That, I think more than anything, is why I'm so proud of him. The competition was almost tertiary at that point.”

Schimberg worked in a performance auto shop, studied and had classmates and teachers helping him prepare.

Brian Manley, Schimberg’s teacher at the Cherry Creek Innovation Campus, said they went to dealerships to practice with the kinds of cars they expected to be in the competition.

“He put in the work,” Manley said of Schimberg. “He studied very hard, and he's an exceptional human. He's really got an amazing intellect.”

The competition

During the competition, students rotated among various stations where they faced challenging diagnostic issues, Tipsword said. At each station, they had to diagnose the problem, explain it and try to solve it. At one station, there was a 100-question written test, Tipsword said.

Many of the stations, he said, are created to be almost impossible to solve. The judges, who are representatives from leading manufacturers in the industry, want to see that students have knowledge of the systems, an ability to diagnose problems, an understanding of different diagnostic equipment and strong critical thinking skills.

“Imagine spending eight hours of people just back-to-back throwing the hardest problems at you they can think of, in hopes that you will fail, basically,” Tipsword said.

The value of skilled trades

Considering the difficulty of the competition, placing first and fourth were significant accomplishments for Schimberg and Keller.

“It was honestly surprising because I haven't been in the program as long as some of these other kids,” Schimberg said about becoming a national champion. “I was pretty thrilled to have the experience and be able to go out there and test my knowledge against some of these other strong competitors.”

Keller, who finished the competition in fourth place, said he was proud of how much his motivation and confidence increased during his time at Arapahoe Community College.

“I just went from a complete lost student back in high school, extremely stressed out and worried about ‘What am I going to do for the future?’ to someone who — I have confidence in my ability to work now and I have a plan of exactly what I need to do next,” he said.

Keller will continue working at AutoNation Toyota and taking steps towards becoming a master diagnostic technician, with a hope of one day working on racecars.

Schimberg will be attending the Colorado School of Mines and is planning to study mechanical engineering with a focus on automotive engineering.

For people considering their career options, Tipsword said he hopes more people can see the value of a career in skilled trades. He said ACC is a great place to start in the automotive industry.

“It's okay to do things with your hands,” he said. “It's okay to be an artisan. And I’d just like to see more people get involved because it actually is really fun and really inspiring.”