Kyle Evjen, a student in the ITEC Automotive program at Renton Technical College, was awarded a $500 scholarship from ITEC (Independent Technician Education Coalition).

More than 90 independent auto shops have participated, either in time, effort or funding, to make scholarships available to students like Evjen, according to RTC.

“This scholarship will help with my tuition fees and school supplies,” Kyle said. Just completing his first year, Evjen is able to apply the skills he has learned to his job from this cooperative training program.

“There is a need for scholarships to help students afford to stay in school,” said Jack Devine, ITEC Instructor at RTC. “The payback for the shops is trained, quality technicians.”

ITEC is a comprehensive two-year automotive training program at RTC featuring cooperative training with an approved automotive repair facility. Students in the ITEC program alternate between classroom/lab times, followed by nine weeks of paid fulltime mentored work experience over the course of two years.