BRATTLEBORO — Adam Minihan of Rindge, N.H., not only bested his classmates at the Lakes Region Community College automotive service program in Laconia, N.H., but he also took the top prize at this year's national automotive skills championship in Kansas City, Mo.
Minihan, who works full-time as an auto mechanic at Auto Mall, a General Motors dealership in Brattleboro, scored 100 percent in the competition that tested 54 contestants from the each of the 50 United States, Guam and Puerto Rico on automotive diagnosis skills.
More than 320,000 students competed on the local and state level in order to qualify for the national competition.
When he was a junior at Conant High School in Jaffrey, N.H., Minihan was recognized by teachers as a promising automotive tech student, who urged him to continue studies in that area.
Minihan graduated from the Lakes Region program with a 3.82 grade point average last month.