May 14, 2015
Contact: Jill Moberley, Public Information Officer
Jmoberle@dps.k12.oh.us
For Immediate Release

Come to school every day, get good grades and stay out of the principal’s office: It’s a recipe for success and the best way to win your own car if you’re a student at Ponitz Career Technology Center. Hundreds of students are hoping the bright red Pontiac Grand Am GT in Richard Seither’s automotive technology classroom will be theirs if they have grades, attendance or discipline record to drive it home. The student body will gather for the drawing at 1:30 p.m. on May 19 in the school parking lot to learn which of four finalists has the key that starts the car.

Eligible students must have a 3.0 GPA or higher, perfect attendance and/or no office referrals for one or more quarters. Students earned from one to 12 opportunities to enter their names (one ticket for each criterion met per quarter). Each student who qualified also received a button that reads “In it to Win it!”

The idea began when Seither, the school’s automotive technology instructor procured a 2003 Pontiac Grand Am for his students to refurbish. Donations from sponsors who serve on the school’s automotive technology advisory council made the project possible. Partners include Reichart Buick, Dayton Tool Crib, J & J Transportation, Maaaco Auto Body on Needmore, Champion Automotive, and Genuine Auto Parts (who furnished parts to rebuild the suspension).

“Our goal was to provide a dependable car that a student could drive through four years of college and not have to worry about transportation,” Seither said.

All of the nearly 800 students are eligible to participate, but freshmen (about 200) are eligible to win only other prizes and not the car.

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Photo caption: The Ponitz CTC automotive technology class refurbished this 2003 Pontiac Grand Am GT that will be given away on May 19. Eligible students must have a minimum 3.0 GPA, perfect attendance and/or no office referrals for one or more quarters.