The reason why I am applying for the scholarship is that I have a plan with my finances to be in the best position possible to own a home at the end of my two years of schooling. This scholarship would go a long way in lowering the tuition cost allowing me to pay off my loans faster and ultimately allowing me to reach that goal. I want to be a mechanic for the simple fact that I love it. I love working on and driving cars with the fact that I can get paid to do both made this career a no brainer. Not to mention I get to learn from the best and have an excuse to buy the best tools that I can use to work on my own stuff. The ability to work with my hands and stay on the move is also beneficial to the active lifestyle I already live. I love being able to not only build knowledge in a field I enjoy but to put it to use everyday. I pursued this career because I'm able to push myself not only in aspects of knowledge but skills as well. I really wanted to do something that would be impactful to people's everyday lives, not just some programming that was pushed by my high school. Everyone needs their car, you can not get from A-B without it. That's why I take pride in fixing someone's vehicle correctly to the highest quality. I feel like now more than ever the industry is changing from ICE vehicles to EVs and hybrids technology which gives me the opportunity to be the first to learn and master this new technology. In addition I am in a position to be the bridge between these new technologies and the information that I will be able to pass down in the future when ICE vehicles take a back burner to EVs. The main reason I chose the path of a trade school and the T-Ten program was that they provided an associates degree that is needed to teach. I have always enjoyed working with and teaching the next generation, be that as a camp counselor for four years or teaching soccer to young kids in my free time. I feel it is my responsibility to learn as much as I can and pass that information down to those who will come after me with the goal that they will ultimately surpass me.

I decided to pursue the automotive industry because it has provided me with a challenge. I was always someone who enjoyed working with my hands even as a child I would tinker with anything my parents would let me take apart. During high school, I was able to apply to and get into my automotive program where I received an amazing education which led me to fully commit myself to this career. There I found how much I enjoyed working on cars, from something as simple as replacing a window switch to replacing a long block. Either way, the satisfaction of fixing the issue is the same. There is always an expectation of quality and efficiency, a day-to-day challenge which I ended up falling in love with. No car is the same and the ability to improve on every car and to face new challenges head on. I fell in love with these challenges from CAN bus diagnosis to transmission replacement. You have to be a jack of all trades to properly diagnose and correct any vehicle that you may come across. I have always been someone to pursue challenges from activities like wrestling, surfing, and skiing, anything that will push me and automotive provides that challenge more than anything else. Most important to this challenge is that the automotive industry more than ever is in a stage of growth and advancement in technology, a new challenge for a new generation of technicians, one which I am eager to meet.

Since I was young I always loved cars, almost all the photos of me as a little kid include a Matchbox car. I always had a fascination for these machines that were so integral to our everyday lives. As I grew up I might have stopped playing with matchbox cars (not entirely) but that early love for cars blossomed again when I started to drive. As I started high school and started to try to answer the question that every kid gets asked “What are you gonna do?”. I looked at all my friends going to college for majoring in things that they are not truly passionate about, not to mention absorbent amounts of money to do so. I thought maybe this was the same path I would end up on, I mean it seemed safe enough. That was until the end of the summer of 2020 when I pooled all my money working as a camp counselor into buying a 2000 Toyota Celica GTS to learn manual on. That car was the first of several steps that inspired me to pursue my career in the automotive industry. Firstly that car taught me how to work on cars and with my hands in general, from all four brakes, belts, tensioner, oil, and rust; so much rust. Yet in the end after a lot of trial and error, I did learn manual and I did learn how to do the basics, in which I was rewarded with a car that was an absolute blast to drive. I was fortunate enough to attend the CTE program at Salem High School which solidified the fact that this is what I was truly passionate about. It showed me what this industry was all about and the opportunities it provided for those who worked hard to earn them. My teachers inspired me through the way they helped break down the stigmas around the industry and helped me understand that this could be a successful and lucrative path. They helped me set up my current job at a dealership which allowed me the freedom to work for myself. Through this, I realized how I loved being able to bring in a vehicle to diagnose the issue and correct it accordingly all within a day or less. I loved how there was always a new issue you had to overcome every day. In the shop, it was always inspiring to watch your mentors and other technicians correctly diagnose an issuer or have the knowledge to immediately know an issue and correct said issue almost instantaneously. Ultimately with the money I earned in the shop that summer I was able to get the car I currently own now a 1997 BMW 540I. That car was the thing that sealed the fact that I do love these machines enough to dedicate a career to them. To strive for perfection in a field is a feat that itself is borderline impossible but one that is no less fulfilling to pursue.

My name is Noah Afonso and I am pursuing a career in the Automotive industry. I am pursuing the automotive field because I have always loved working on cars as it is something that gives you immediate feedback on if the job was fixed or not. This combined with the small error margins allows for a constantly exciting job that pushes you every day to do the best job possible. In addition to this, I simply enjoy the task of working with my hands and being able to be useful and helpful more so than in other jobs say in accounting. On the point of problem-solving, I believe that many of the problems that I have looked at and solved probably have not been as advanced as some others who have grown up around auto repair more closely. I have reassembled engines in my automotive class without aid but that's an issue in a fixed environment. The challenges I have faced so far have been those of trying to teach myself the basics on my own. I bought a 2000 Toyota Celica GTS for this sole idea. I bought it in less-than-ideal condition with a broken E-brake and the worst brakes I have seen to this day. The car had been sitting for some time so I did the brakes and fixed the E-brake both of which took me some time because I had few tools and less of an idea what I was doing. These issues thought me what I now realize is the more important intangible of automotive which are patients. This problem-solving for me although basic, and things that I would come to do every day at my job currently working at Toyota, were imperative for me to build the foundations of my problem-solving skills. My plan is one that I have thought about extensively in my free time and have gotten to where it is streamlined to the fullest. I first chose to work at Toyota because their progression is the clearest of all the manufacturer and their systems in place to do this are the best tested and most refined. In addition to this, the T-ten program in Laconia is one of the better ones in the country with small class sizes so I can get the best resource for success as well as earn an associate's degree rather than a certificate. I then went to work for IRA Toyota of Manchester as my classmates who were a year ahead of me and already working there enjoyed it highly. This brings us to today where I am enrolled in the T-Ten program at Lakes Region Community College and working for IRA as an apprentice technician as I was quickly moved out of express within a summer. I plan to first get my state inspection license in July, complete the assigned Toyota online training over the summer to lighten my school workload, and hopefully proactively take and pass one or if possible multiple ASE tests to put me in the best possible position before starting T-Ten in the fall. Long term I plan to complete T-Ten with my eight ASE putting me in the position to immediately become a master technician after the tenure is reached and to imitate pursue whatever is needed to get higher in the company from there. I believe anyone who you talk to about me will mention my work ethic as one of if not the first things about me. I pride myself on making sure my work is of the highest quality and done most professionally and efficiently as possible. Secondly, they will mention my kindness and willingness to help others in any way possible. I am someone who will always help others if possible as I am someone who believes that you can change people's days for the better with the littlest help or kindness. Lastly, they may mention my positivity and how I always look on the bright side of things. I have realized that there is no point in being negative when something goes wrong or doesn't work out the way you want it to because at the end of the day that only gonna slow down your new path forward. So while someone might complain about doing an annoying job like an oil change or four-run flats on a senna at least it's work and I'm making money because that's a privilege that few are afforded. Overall they would recommend I receive this scholarship based on exemplary work ethic, character, and knowledge as I believe I share these qualities with the people around me every day. Attached are photos of my current car 1997 540I and a photo I took doing valve cover gaskets on it. I have also done suspension and extensive maintenance not pictured.

I have had many times in my life when I have had to put those dependent on me over myself. The one that comes to mind for me the most is my wrestling career in high school. Coming into my freshman year of high school I was one of the kids meant to carry the wrestling team through the next few years. I came in a 4th place finish in the state and at the high school level, the team was as strong as it would be for a while. I planned to wrestle at my weight of one hundred forty-five pounds but the coach had different plans. I was to wrestle at one hundred and sixty pounds as there was a weight gap. Now coming into this situation I had high goals as I was pretty dominant in middle school with few kids stronger than me, this notion was rudely broken on my first day of practice as I was matched with the senior one hundred and fifty-two who had a skill for hip tosses and lat drops. This woke me up to how much of a challenge and step up high school wrestling was going to be, as not only were the practices harder but my opponents were gonna have three years of maturity on me. My Freshman year was spent losing, I lost every match for varsity that I wrestled most of the time losing in embarrassment. Halfway through the season, I started to want to quit, I was losing not only in matches but getting beat up at practice. I had to look at my teammates that were depending on me for meets and to be their partners and push them in practice. I know I needed to push my teammates because this was their last chance and for me, it never really mattered win or loss but I needed to be there for them. Three years later I am now a senior and after a good year last year, I need to win for this new coach and the significantly new team as I am one of only two seniors left. This year I got to wrestle my weight cutting down to one hundred and fifty-two and being back to having the strength advantage I had in middle school. I had to push the whole team forward and I did I showed day in and day out I would outwork my peers and push forward. I had to work every day and go to practice which was the most taxing thing I have done in my life. I was tasked with setting a culture for this new coach and team people were depending on me for guidance. I had to be there for my teammates I brought people into the program and kept kids in it. I was expected to perform and I did when the time came I placed fifth in divisional barely losing my match for the third and fourth place bout by a point. I had a chance to place third and make it to New England's and to say I failed at that task would be an understatement I did not win a single match. I was distraught for the day but getting home I realized it would be futile to wallow so the next day I came in to work with the kids who did make it because, at the end of the day, that's what matters. At the end of the day what wrestling taught me was that it was not all about me no matter how good or bad I was being part of the team is what mattered most. It was more important to help those around me because no matter how I do it is more important for me to help my teammates be the best version of themselves.

I have always loved working with my hands my whole life from building legos as a kid to starting to work on ATVs and lawnmowers, so working on cars became a natural progression for me. I was able to get into a career in the technical education program at Salem High School and fell in love with the trade. I then decided to pursue my career at Toyota as they were one of the few manufacturers that showed me a comprehensive progression timeline that was backed up by technicians that have followed the path and succeeded in their professional careers through it. I then was able to get a job at Ira Toyota of Manchester where I started as a lube technician but within a couple of months was moved into the main shop and now work as an apprentice technician. Through the path laid out for me, I knew that I was going to pursue future education at a T-Ten program to put me on a fast tract to my career goals. I choose to stay in the great state of New Hampshire and applied and was accepted Lake Region Community College. This allows me to pursue my career goals of becoming a Toyota Master Technician in the shortest amount of time possible by obtaining my hybrid certification and the rest of my factory training. The Co-op system also alowes me to have enough time to complete my ASEs during off time. The secondary reason for choosing this path is that T-Ten is that it is an associate program, so in the future if I choose to pursue other aspecs of the automotive industry such as teaching I will be prepared. I ultimately made this decision on career due to the fact that the future of this trade is a bright one. The Automotive industry is one that is always evolving and providing new challenges and opportunities everyday so I can be at the forefront of this trade. Not to mention this trade alowes me to instead of spending seventy thousand dollars on schooling for four years, I can be making that in two years for less than a semester at a big state university. I also get to pursue a creare that is also a life long skill that even if for some reason I can not properly pursue my goals I will have the ability to fix cars for the rest of my life. This helps me pursue my hobby of working on my own cars and getting to work just the way I want. Most importantly to me is that the trade brings me closer to my father as we work together on projects at home, and its always nice to know a little bit more than him. In conclusion I am excited and ready to pursue my career as a Toyota technician and to attend Lakes Region Community college to further my career further and faster.