Twenty high-school students from across Washington — including a team from Bothell High — will compete in the state finals Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition for thousands of dollars worth of scholarships and a chance to advance to the national finals. The state competition will be held April 24 at Renton Technical College.

Patrick McCue is the Bothell instructor.

The Ford/AAA Student Auto Skills competition is targeted to support students looking to jumpstart a career as an automotive-service technician. The winning two-student team will advance to represent Washington state at the national finals at Ford World Headquarters in Dearborn, Mich., June 10-12. Qualifiers will compete for scholarships, prizes and an opportunity to job shadow Wood Brothers Racing at Daytona International Speedway.

Each two-student team in the state finals competition will race the clock to correctly identify and repair “bugs” installed in 2012 Ford Fusion vehicles.

Qualifying teams were selected based on their scores in the online exam, which tests overall automotive knowledge. The team with the highest combined score from the hands-on competition and written exam will win.