Alexis Matney, left, and Joel Nyce, make up the Wawasee FFA small engines team qualifying for the state competition in April.
SYRACUSE — Wawasee High School’s FFA small engines team of Alexis Matney, senior, and Joel Nyce, junior, will be competing in the state competition Saturday, April 21, in Greenwood, south of Indianapolis. The two qualified by placing first at the district competition held in early February at the Pathways welding shop near the high school campus in Syracuse.
During a small engines competition each team brings an engine and takes it apart, then reassembles it in a set amount of time. Joel noted it is typically a 5 horsepower engine, something that would be used in go-cart. There is also a skills station as part of the competition.
Students are challenged to identify the parts of an engine, such as the crankshaft and cylinder, as well as the various tools used when working on an engine. They are also tested on their knowledge of repair manuals and when given a specific engine model, they must figure out how to repair it using the repair manual.
This is Joel’s third year to be on a small engines team and he qualified for the state competition last year too. Alexis is in her second year of small engines competitions.