Teen Wins Scholarship to Automotive College with Social Media Help

A Goleta teen has won a fully paid scholarship to a special school for auto technicians with a social media blast and local television exposure.

Andy Jacobs received a call recently that he won a $32,000 tuition package for his year at the Universal Technical Institute in Rancho Cucamonga.

Jacobs showed his desire to get in by asking friends and supporters to cast votes for him in the special contest that was also backed by Mike Rowe who hosts the Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs” show. A prior interview with NewsChannel 3 help to boost his name on the competition list and the story was viewed by the staff at the automotive college.

“I am very excited and it makes it so with the scholarship I can go and take other programs as well as the automotive. If I didn’t have the scholarship it would be harder to take more programs because it is more expensive,” said Jacobs.

He hopes to return here when he is done with school and start repairing cars locally.