Local female automotive students make history

TEMPLE, Texas (KWTX) - March is Women’s History Month, and a group of Temple High School students are making a little history of their own.

A group of five female automotive technology students from Temple High School have made it to the state competition, and the school said it’s the largest group to represent Temple since the program started.

Nyla Medina, Aliza Mojica, Priscilla Bailon, Angela De La Fuente and Yeraldine Garcia made it to the state competition by placing highly in the USA Skills Regional Competition in February.

Medina, Mojica and Bailon spoke with KWTX ahead of their spring break earlier this month--De La Fuente and Garcia were not in class. The three students are all in 10th grade, and they each got involved in the class for different reasons.

Bailon, who wants to go into marketing, said it was recommended to her, and she enjoys cars and learning how to fix things. Medina wants to be a pilot--she said the class will help her reach that goal, but she also felt they were useful skills to have. Mojica got into automotive work thanks to her brother-in-law and her grandfather. She hopes to go to college to further these skills and make it her career.

All three students said it was exciting for them to make it to the state competition. As part of the competition, each student partnered with another on a project. Medina and Bailon partnered to rebuild an alternator, and Mojica partnered with another student in the class to rebuild a turbocharger.

Medina, Mojica and Bailon hope their success sends a message to other students thinking about taking the class.

“If you put your mind to it, go for it, don’t hold back on it,” Mojica said. Because if you hold back on it, you never know what you could have accomplished.”

“I think it shows that like more women are getting into these fields and like we’re advancing and that women can do anything,” Medina said.

“It feels great,” Bailon said. “It feels like, like something that it proves that we can do things too.”

In total, ten students from the class will be representing Temple High School at the state competition later this month.

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