Nick Arata remembers watching car repair programs on TV with his grandfather when he was growing up. He always wanted to know how things work and how to fix them when they broke. He started taking Auto classes at COA right out of high school.
On May 9, 2024, Roberto Reyes received the Ozzie Day Scholarship from the College of Alameda Automotive Technology Department.
On November 29, 2023, Brian Guzman received the Ozzie Day Scholarship from the College of Alameda Automotive Technology Department.
Brian Guzman is an Oakland native who grew up watching his dad fix family cars and helping out in any way he could. When Brian graduated from high school, he enrolled in Auto Technology classes at COA because he heard from friends that COA had the best Auto Tech classes in the area.
Yumeus Taylor is an Oakland native, but everyone calls her Missy. She has been fascinated with fixing cars since she was a little girl watching her uncle and dad work on their vehicles. After graduating high school in Oakland, she enrolled in Laney College for general studies courses and then started taking automotive classes at the College of Alameda. Missy is a single mom with two sons, and when she isn't working part-time as a technician at San Leandro Hyundai/Kia, she is joining her mom and sister to give back to the Oakland community by volunteering at the Bay Area Mega Center in Oakland.
Congratulations to Richard Nguyen, who was awarded the Ozzie Day Scholarship for Fall 2022 at an award ceremony on December 7th, 2022. Richard grew up in East Oakland and his dad, Duc Nguyen, took classes from the College of Alameda Automotive Technology (ATECH) program when Duc first immigrated to the USA thirty years ago. Richard decided to follow in his dad's footsteps after graduating from high school in Oakland. Ever since his first ATECH class, he's been a straight-A student in the COA ATECH program. He expects to graduate from the Auto program next June and get a job as a technician at a local dealership.
Sohail Ali was awarded the Ozzie Day Scholarship today for Fall, 2021. Sohail has been attending the College of Alameda for four years, and will complete his Associate of Science degree in Automotive Technology next semester. He says that he’s majoring in Automotive Technology because he “loves to fix things.” Sohail is currently attending college full-time, while--at the same time--working part-time at an independent repair shop in San Francisco. iH His goal is to become a certified Master tech, specializing in Engine Performance.
Two College of Alameda Automotive Technology (Atech) students, Yumeus (Missy) Taylor and Jorge Sandoval, were awarded Ozzie Day Scholarships this spring. As you can see from the photos below, both of them maintained social distancing protocols when they got their checks! All in-person Atech labs this semester have been running with full Covid protocols.
