RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. – The 99 U.S. students who received financial awards from the Global Automotive Aftermarket Symposium scholarships, sponsors and donors this year are top students academically, according to a recent analysis of the students’ applications and transcripts.
 
“One of the primary goals of the GAAS scholarship fund is to bring new talent into the automotive aftermarket,” said Pete Kornafel, chairman of the GAAS scholarship committee. “Looking at our U.S. scholarship winners for 2012-2013, we are attracting the best and brightest to our industry.”
 
Not all schools list cumulative grade point average (GPA) or class rank on student transcripts. But, among the recipients whose transcripts showed this data, the GAAS Scholarship Committee noted the following results:
 
* 82 percent of the recipients whose high school transcripts listed GPA had a GPA of 3.0 or better.
* 52 percent of the recipients had a high-school GPA of 3.5 or better.
* 41 percent of the recipients whose high school transcript listed class rank were in the top quarter of their graduating class.
* 83 percent of the recipients listing class rank were in the top half of their class.
 
Thirty-six of the 99 scholarship recipients are already pursing their education in a post-secondary program and submitted a transcript with their post-secondary GPA. Among those award winners, 69 percent have a post-secondary GPA of 3.5 or better, and 92 percent had a GPA of 3.0 or better.
 
“The need for more skilled repair professionals is well-documented, so we are especially pleased that 78 of the 99 U.S. scholarship recipients are either already enrolled in or will enter post-secondary programs to become technicians in mechanical, collision or heavy-duty/diesel programs,” Kornafel said.
 
To learn more about the GAAS Scholarship program, click here.