BRUNSWICK
Two Harpswell students from Maine Region Ten Technical High School will join seven other two-student technical school teams for a troubleshooting competition during the annual Maine Boat Show Saturday in Portland.
Jesse Mitchell and Josh Saxton will compete against teams from Portland, Rockland and Waldo County technical schools.
Held during the annual Maine Boatbuilders Show at 58 Fore St., the competition is a way to introduce students to a growing field of skills-based jobs demanded by an indigenous Maine industry.
Region Ten instructor Bill Ross teaches his students how to diagnose and repair problems with engines found in motorcycles, snowmobiles, lawn mowers and other equipment. Despite Brunswick’s history with the sea, however, the school does not yet have a program to prepare students for marine repair jobs.
Portland Yacht Services and Universal Technical Institute, a vocational program, are in a joint effort to change that.
Saxton, Mitchell and the others will see who can quickly diagnose an outboard motor “with starter issues” before troubleshooting electrical gremlins in a centerconsole recreational boat.
They’ll also have to pass a written test, according to John Lewis, admissions representative from Universal Technical Institute.
The winning teams will receive scholarship awards from UTI and Portland Yacht Services, which can be used at any of 11 institute campuses nationwide.
First place earns a $1,000 scholarship to any UTI campus; second place is $500 each. Portland Yacht Services will contribute $300 each for firstplace finisher, and $200 each for second place.
The top three teams also will receive a high-end set of Snap-On tools.
Mitchell and Saxton attend Region Ten mornings and finish their school day at Mt. Ararat High School, Topsham.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, demand for marine technicians in the United States is increasing, with an average starting salary of $37,170.
The U.S. Department of Labor projects 1.3 million jobs in the collision, automotive, motorcycle and marine industries by 2018. The local effort to prepare students to fill those jobs is starting “with baby steps,” Lewis said.
Portland Yacht Services, which currently employs four UTI graduates, sponsors the competition. The closest of Universal Technical Institute’s campuses is in Norwood, Mass.
Representatives from the state Department of Education also will attend Saturday.
“We should be educating people to work in our labor market, right?” Lewis said. “If people want to stay in Maine, we ought to educate them to be able to work here, because right now they’re going off and getting an education that they can’t use here.”
jtleonard@timesrecord.com
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