New car dealerships in California continue to experience a shortage of qualified technicians in their service departments. There are now over 5,000 positions that need to be filled, which averages to over four per new car dealership rooftop. GLANCDA is dedicated to putting time, effort and resources to work in partnership with local high schools and community colleges that offer automotive technology programs for their students. Careers within this space are becoming more lucrative every year, and we know that the employees of tomorrow are ready for what is to come.

For the first time since late 2019, GLANCDA hosted the high school student technician competition in April in two phases on separate Saturdays. Phase one was a written test that covered the areas that ASE uses to certify technicians. There were over 75 students from 11 different schools; it was hosted by Longo Toyota on Saturday, April 1. The top two students from each school moved on to the hands-on workstation portion of the competition on Saturday, April 29, at Cerritos College. Every workstation had a judge that is currently an instructor at the area community college programs in Los Angeles County. The top teams were awarded tools that were provided by Snap On. The event was a big success. There were over 75 in attendance, including 25 volunteers. The winning team was from Van Nuys High School. Many thanks to Longo Toyota and Cerritos College for helping make these events happen.

GLANCDA will continue to host networking opportunities and career fairs so that student technicians and dealership representatives can work together to build a strong network of service centers for many years to come. In November, the association has plans to once again host an event at the L.A. Auto Show on the opening Friday of the show (November 17). In 2022, over 800 students, faculty members, and dealership employees came to the event that was hosted over two days; we hope to exceed those numbers.

Schools involved include:

• Cerritos College
• Citrus College
• Rio Hondo College
• LA Trade Tech
• Pasadena College
• Pierce College
• East Los Angeles College
• College of the Canyons
• Artesia High School
• Downey High School
• California Job Challenge Academy
• Canyon High School
• Saugus High School
• Sylmar High School
• California High School
• Nogales High School
• Rowland High School
• Van Nuys High School