WIX® Announces Top 25 Schools in ‘2012 School of the Year’ Competition

Monday, 17 September 2012

Winning school to receive $2,500 in prizes, on-site visit, trip to AAPEX in Las Vegas

WIX® Filters and O’Reilly Auto Parts, partners with Tomorrow’s Technician as title sponsors for the “2012 School of the Year” competition at ttschooloftheyear.com, have announced the Top 25 schools selected from nearly 340 entrants.

“We are proud to play a role in shaping future technicians as part of the ‘School of the Year’ competition,” said Mike Harvey, brand manager for WIX Filters, which was an associate sponsor of last year’s competition. “We are committed to providing excellence in education for the next generation of technicians.”

The Top 25 schools are:

Region One
• Rio Hondo College, Whittier, Calif.
• Dallas County Community College District – Brookhaven, Farmers Branch, Texas
• Pima Community College, Tucson, Ariz.
• WyoTech, Long Beach, Calif.
• New Mexico Junior College, Hobbs, N.M.
• San Diego Continuing Education, San Diego, Calif.
• Southeast Community College, Milford, Neb.

Region Two

• Marchman Technical School, New Port Richey, Fla.
• Chipola College, Mirianna, Fla.
• Providence Senior High School, Charlotte, N.C.
• Elizabethtown Community and Technical College, Elizabethtown, Ky.
• Cope Area Career Center, Cope, S.C.
• Midlands Technical College, Columbia, S.C.

Region Three

• Clover Park Technical College, Lakewood, Wash.
• Reynolds High School, Troutdale, Ore.
• Northwest Kansas Technical College, Goodland, Kan.
• Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Ill.
• Grafton High School, Grafton, Wis.
• Iowa Western Community College, Council Bluffs, Iowa
• Salt Lake Community College, Sandy, Utah
• Sinclair Community College, Dayton, Ohio

Region Four

• Assabet Valley Regional Technical School, Marlborough, Mass.
• Charles H. Bohlen, Jr. Technical Center, Watertown, N.Y.
• Pennsylvania College of Technology, Williamsport, Pa.
• Berks Career and Technology Center, Leesport, Pa.
• A W Beattie Career Center, Allison Park, Pa.
• Lakes Region Community College, Laconia, N.H.

2012 marks the fifth year of the national contest to find and name the best technician training school in the country. Due to the overwhelming response and increase in school entrants by 20 percent, the top 20 schools were expanded to a list of 25 this year.

Of the 340 entrants nominated, 121 were from different high schools, technical schools and colleges. Also new this year, instructors were able to post a video on the Tomorrow's Technician YouTube channel www.wixfilters.com. Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/wixfilters, follow us on Twitter@WIXFilters and visit our YouTube page at youtube.com/TheWIXFilters

About Affinia Group Inc.

Affinia Group Inc. is an innovative global leader in the design, manufacture, distribution and marketing of industrial grade products and services, including extensive offerings of aftermarket products for automotive and heavy-duty vehicles. With approximately $2.0 billion in annual revenue, Affinia has operations in North and South America, Europe and Asia. For more information, visit, www.affiniagroup.com

Wray Ward