It’s an experience they will never forget. A team of SUNY Morrisville automotive students and their coach set out to win it all. And they did!
SUNY Morrisville’s Mopar Career Automotive Program (MCAP) students were crowned champions in the first-ever Mopar® Career Automotive Program (CAP) Bracket Challenge, a competition that featured 16 schools across the country.
SUNY Morrisville automotive students advanced through multiple rounds of technical assessments, hands-on competitions and in-person challenges. In addition to the title, they also won temporary possession of a 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, individual tool sets for participants and the school earned a five-drawer tool cart with a 400-piece master tool set from MAC Tools.
Students also have a few more things to add to their resumes, including letters of recommendation from top Stellantis (leading global automaker) professionals.
The 2018 Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, one of only 3,300 made, is on loan to the college for a year. It will be utilized by auto students for various training and on the college’s dynamometer, which measures torque and power. Plans are to take it to the Syracuse Nationals, the largest car show in the Northeast, as well as other car shows.
More than the prizes, the feeling of being the best resonates among teammates. The hours in lab, toiling over broken cars and fixing engines — all of the hard work paid off.
“This was a great experience,” said Darrell Deronceray, an automotive technology Bachelor of Technology student from Niskayuna, near Albany, who took the team to the final win in round four, alongside Jacob Allen, of Bridgeport, a student in the automotive technology associate degree program.
“It is proof of our abilities and a confidence-booster for when we are faced with real-world problems and we can solve them,” Deronceray said of the winning the title.
The overall experience also gave students a bigger picture of the industry with competitions held at their local Stellantis Training Center in Rochester and the national training center in Auburn Hills, Michigan.
Teamwork was a top strategy that helped the Morrisville MCAP team advance. That and studying a 200-page manual, plus their arsenal of skills and hands-on experience they are gaining in the college’s top-notch auto programs.
Add their coach, Matt Polak, a 2007 automotive alumnus, for the winning combination. Polak, assistant professor of automotive technology, has been running SUNY Morrisville’s MCAP program for the last year and a half.
The team credits his leadership as a driving force for their win.
“The feeling that out of all of these schools, to be No. 1 shows how his teaching has benefited us,” Allen said.
“We relied on what we studied, what he taught us and the skills already in our heads,” Deronceray said.
“He’s a really good teacher,” teammate Michael Wegener said. “His motivation keeps us going.” Wegener, a student in the automotive technology associate degree program, hails from Massachusetts. “This was the best auto school I found. I toured others and they didn’t compare to Morrisville.”
Polak put the credit back on his students for their skillset, teamwork and confidence as the muscle that took them to the top. “Everyone contributed something,” he said.
The team won fans along the way, impressing judges with their communication, skills, teamwork and hands-on rounds, some completed in nearly half the allotted time, Polak noted.
The competition happened in four rounds. The first included completing resumes and a professional interview with MCAP leaders, followed by an electrical assessment completed online, a hands-on assessment in Rochester and the final assessment in Detroit, Michigan. Final scores determined which teams advanced.
From there, Polak’s team voted on which of their teammates would take them to the next step, partially based on how they scored in previous rounds.
Allen and Deronceray represented Morrisville in round four, where they were tasked to complete four, 40-minute stations. They relied on their background and exceptional communication for this technical portion, which included some tasks they had never done in labs.
On the SUNY Morrisville campus, celebrations have hyped the team’s win and the college’s MCAP program.
“What it does for SUNY Morrisville is invaluable,” Polak said of the MCAP program. “We would not have the equipment, the tooling, the access to manufacture-specifics, the vehicles — it gives us access to all of that.”
The Dodge on loan to the program augments a fleet of 12 cars MCAP students work on in labs.
“What I love about the program is the hands-on and career connections,” Deronceray said. “The leaders in industry reach out to us and are very good to us and always willing to help.”
The connections go hand-in-hand with all of the college’s automotive programs, which include three associate degrees in automotive technology, automotive technology - Ford ASSET and auto body technology. Graduates have the option to transfer into the college’s Bachelor of Technology degree program in automotive technology or the Bachelor of Business Administration degree program in automotive management.
- Below are SUNY Morrisville students who competed in the MCAP program and the stages in which they competed:
- Christian Vilalta, of Elmsford, resume
- Anthony Trapaso, of Canastota, resume
- Michael Wegener, of Massachusetts, resume
- Ethan Grogan, of Pinebush, resume, electrical assessment proctored online via national training center (school support in Detroit)
- Liam Kosinski, of Liverpool, resume, electrical assessment proctored online via national training center (school support in Detroit)
- Darrell Deronceray, of Niskayuna, resume, electrical assessment online, hands-on assessment in Rochester, final assessment in Detroit
- Jacob Allen, of Bridgeport, resume, interview with Chrysler area manager, electrical assessment online, hands-on assessment in Rochester, final assessment in Detroit
- Joshua Bravick, of Munnsville, resume
- Ryan Teixeira, of Southington, Connecticut, resume
- Kyler Paul, of Hamilton, resume
- Christian White, of Little Falls, resume
- Vincent Stellio, of Mount Kisko, resume, interview with Chrysler area manager
About MCAP
Established to develop the most highly skilled service technicians in the auto industry, the Mopar Career Automotive Program (MCAP) provides students the opportunity to earn manufacture-specific credentials with laboratory activities on current production vehicles.
Through this partnership with Chrysler Automotive Group, students can work and learn in Chrysler dealerships during a summer applied learning class and work with brands such as Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and FIAT.
About SUNY Morrisville’s automotive programs
Faculty, who are experts in their field, round out the experience, as well as automotive facilities which are up to speed with the ever-changing auto industry and offer the latest in technology and equipment.
The 14,000-square-foot auto body technology building houses the most current tools and equipment for collision repair and metal fabrication. Set up as a real-world auto body shop, students perform live laboratory work and help staff a parts department and live service desk to gain experience with repairs, refinishing and estimating.
Features that deliver a modern refinishing environment supported by industry leaders include a frame and body laser alignment system, superior air purification equipment, mixing system, in-floor heating and an environmentally friendly Garmat crossdraft paint spray booth, which can dry a coat of paint in half the normal time.
