May 6, 2019—TechForce Foundation announces the 2019 FutureTechs Rock Awards Grand Prize Winner is Jonathon Miranda, an automotive student attending Ohio Technical College, a post-secondary technical school in Cleveland, Ohio.
Throughout his 18-month automotive program, Jonathon has maintained perfect attendance, achieved honor roll six times, and earned all A’s in his associate degree academic classes, which are separate from his technical coursework. Jonathon is a member of his school's Student Leadership Council, where he serves as a role model and mentor, welcomes new students to campus, and volunteers for on-campus events. He also volunteers as a judge with Hot Rodders of Tomorrow, SEMA, and as lead judge for Piston Power Show's high school engine building competition.
During the week of April 8 People’s Choice voting period, TechForce followers cast more than 25,000 votes among 10 national finalists who were selected among more than 160 nominees by a panel of judges to represent the different segments of the technician profession: automotive, diesel, collision repair, motorcycle, motorsports, and machining. Jonathon secured the largest number of votes and thus has been named the Grand Prize Winner, earning his choice of a $1,000 TechForce Foundation tuition scholarship to apply towards his post-secondary technician education or a sponsored Snap-on® tool voucher of equal value.
Upon learning he won the national award, Jonathon exclaimed, “This is awesome! Just being nominated means so much to me. Thank you to TechForce Foundation and everyone who voted. This experience encourages me to do my best and it’s a great feeling to know that other people recognize my hard work.”
The FutureTech Rock Awards recognize and celebrate students’ commitment to and passion for the technician profession and the transportation industry. With the U.S. only graduating approximately 57,000 technician students each year while the workforce need is 120,000 new entrant techs per year just to keep up with demand, the technician shortage is real and emphasizes how valuable each one of these students is to our country’s transportation industry.
Nominations were put forth by instructors, school personnel, fellow students to youth program directors, business and community leaders. Nominations were reviewed by a panel of volunteer judges including Julia Landauer, NASCAR driver; Tony Molla, ASA; Brandon Eckenrode, Collision Repair Education Foundation; Larry Cox, Sunstate Equipment; Ken Calhoun, Altec Service Group; and Frank Leutz, Desert Car Care of Chandler and Wrench Nation who then selected ten national finalists, each of whom receives a tool voucher sponsored by Snap-on®, a gift certificate to Cengage's online educational library sponsored by Cengage Learning, and a Haynes Online Manual sponsored by Haynes North America.
