Grundy County will be well-represented at the annual Illinois SkillsUSA competition in Peoria at the end of April: the Grundy Area Vocational Center is sending six automotive students to compete.

Ethan Gonzalez, Justin Bradford, Michael Marchiniak, Shawn Wendel, Stephen Huffman and Thomas Schultz will have their automotive know-how tested on April 23-25.

Schultz, along with his classmates, has been going through the process of getting ready for the last couple of months. He said he’s feeling pretty good heading into the competition. Preparation has involved a lot of studying and going over reviews.

Instructor Nick Wickman said the students qualify by taking a test, and then the state competition is hands-on.

“There’s going to be roughly 20 different stations set up of different automotive problems for them to figure out and solve,” Wickman said.

The problems the students will face are similar to what the students learn in class; Schultz said they learn a lot about identifying parts, wiring and troubleshooting.

For Schultz and the other students, class is a way of expanding on their interests: Every Friday, students get to bring in their own car to take a look and work on any problems. Schultz said he’s gotten to bring in his Dodge truck to take a look at, and the work on that extends beyond class.

“There’s many nights at like, 2 a.m. where I’m like, how did I get to this point?” Schultz said.

Schultz and his classmates make up six of the 41 students who made it to the state-level SkillsUSA competition.

SkillsUSA is one of the largest skills competitions in the world, with more than 6,000 students participating every year. It has many different categories and competitions, and it is meant to aid students in preparing for careers after high school.