Sterling's Moreno wins second in auto refinishing

Eli Moreno, a Ross S. Sterling High School junior and student in the auto collision repair program at Stuart Career Center, won second place in the state automotive refinishing contest in Corpus Christi April 3 and 4.

Eli, the student of Greg Thomas, was offered $25,700 in scholarships as a result of his achievements.  He is the son of Juan P. and Rosa Cuellar.

According to Monelle Rougeau, Goose Creek CISD instructional specialist for career and technical education, this was the first year that SkillsUSA divided the collision repair program into two separate contests.  In the past, students had to compete doing both collision repair and refinishing.

Eli entered the contest as an automotive refinishing student.  His responsibilities were to refinish a bare sheet metal panel by selecting the correct paint materials from a table of different products.  The goal of the test was to identify if students could follow directions, read labels, have training in procedures, and build a high quality refinished panel.

Students were graded on appearance of the finished panel and the steps of procedures that they followed.  The second part of the contest was to take a painted basecoat/clear coat panel that was scratched and featheredge the panel properly.  In addition, they were to build the surface up with primer, block sand the surface level and prepare the surface for sealer and refinishing.