The Collision Repair Education Foundation and 3M are proud to announce the 58 winners for the first round of this year’s 3M Hire Our Heroes awards. The winners include 53 students that are currently studying collision repair and who have served or are currently serving in the military.

Each winning student will have the opportunity to select $1,500 worth of tools upon receiving the award. For those students graduating this year, they will have the opportunity to select an additional $3,000 in tools upon graduation and upon getting hired into the collision industry. There are additional $1,000 scholarships for select veterans.

3M Hire Our Heroes Veteran Grant Recipients
Ray Alston (Guilford Technical Community College, Jamestown, NC)
Alexandros Aslanis (Parkland College, Champaign, IL)
Michael Baker (Tennessee College of Applied Technology, Morristown, TN)
Peter Beasley (Lake Washington Institute of Technology, Kirkland, WA)
Michael Carroll (Sandhills Community College, Pinehurst, NC)
James Cash (Fayetteville Technical Community College, Fayetteville, NC)
Matthew Conley (Fayetteville Technical Community College, Fayetteville, NC)
Russell Cook (Great Plains Technology Center, Lawton, OK)
David Cortes (Sandhills Community College, Pinehurst, NC)
Roan Cowart (Universal Technical Institute, Houston, TX)
Roger Cox (Moore Norman Technology Center, Norman, OK)
William Crowder (Arkansas State University, Newport, AR)
John Curlett (Florida State College, Jacksonville, FL)
Lawrence Daniels (Tennessee College of Applied Technology, Oneida, TN)
Kris Dindoffer (Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, MI)
Daniel Dwyer (Waubonsee Community College, Sugar Grove, IL)
Ryan Folker (Ivy Tech Community College, Fort Wayne, IN)
Robert Garrison (Portland Community College, Portland, OR)
Scott Gray (Laramie County Community College, Cheyenne, WY)
Scott Heise (Manhattan Area Technical College, Manhattan, KS)
Alex Henderson (Fox Valley Technical College, Appleton, WI)
Stacey Hildreth (South Western Community College, Creston, IA)
Kevin Hill (Universal Technical Institute, Houston, TX)
Gerald Howell (WITC, Rice Lake, WI)
Willie Hutchinson (Texas State Technical College, Waco, TX)
Scot Johnson (Great Plains Technology Center, Lawton, OK)
Blake Kizer (Scott Community College, Bettendorf, IA)
Charles Kovach (Highland Community College, Freeport, IL)
Billy Logan (Cleveland County Community College, Shelby, NC)
Randell Lute (Fayetteville Technical Community College, Fayetteville, NC)
Marvin Martin (Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, Valdosta, GA)
Matthew Moody (Eastfield College, Mesquite, TX)
Pedro Moreno (Autry Technology Center, Enid, OK)
Christopher Mussel (Cape Fear Community College, Wilmington, NC)
William Plont (Athens Technical College, Athens, GA)
Erick Rebelukag (Walla Walla Community College, Walla Walla, WA)
Javier Rey (Texas State Technical College, Harlingen, TX)
Aaron Rhines (Bellingham Technical College, Bellingham, WA)
Robert Rioux (Universal Technical Institute, Houston, TX)
Alexander Romero II (Morgan Community College, Fort Morgan, CO)
Dariel Saldana (Automotive Training Center, Warminster, PA)
Aaron Schaffer (Ivy Tech Community College, Terre Haute, IN)
Joseph Schmidt (Washburn Institute of Technology, Topeka, KS)
Ramiro Serrano (Universal Technical Institute, Houston, TX)
Doug Smallwood (Lake Technical College, Eustis, FL)
Matthew Smith (Lenoir Community College, Kinston, NC)
Jacob Talsma (Ridgewater College, Willmar, MN)
Joshua Tapia (Universal Technical Institute, Houston, TX)
Brandon Thames (Itawamba Community College, Tupelo, MS)
Austin Vorasith (DMACC, Ankeny, IA)
Eric Wade (Pulaski Technical College, North Little Rock, AR)
Leeland Warren (Morgan County Community College (Fort Morgan, CO)
Randall Wright (Great Plains Technology Center, Lawton, OK)

In addition, four collision students who have immediate family members who served or are serving in the military were selected as scholarship winners. Each student received an award of $2,500 to help with their education costs.

3M Hire Our Heroes – Veteran Family Award Recipients

Caelan Campbell (Automotive Technology Center, Troutman NC)
Denovario Goode (Gadsden State, Anniston, AL)
Ashley McNamara (Washtenaw Community College, Ann Arbor, MI)
Vaughn Weaver (Kansas City Kansas Community College, Kansas City, KS)

This is the fourth year that 3M has partnered with the Collision Repair Education Foundation in support of our industry and our nation’s veterans. Since 2013, 3M Hire Our Heroes program has generated $750,000 to be used toward scholarships and tool grants for military veterans and their family members.

“Supporting both our industry and our military veterans remains a high priority for us” said Dale Ross, US Marketing Operations Manager for 3M’s Automotive Aftermarket Division.” This year, we were excited to have our customers and 3M employees join us in supporting the 3M Hire Our Heroes program and donating more than $200,000 through the calendar campaign.”

The Collision Repair Education Foundation is looking to help connect these students with industry businesses who would be interested in meeting and potentially hiring them. If your business is interested in hiring one of the winning students, please send your business information including location to the Collision Repair Education Foundation at info@ed-foundation.org and the organization will help introduce both parties for potential employment opportunities.

Additional information on 3M Automotive Aftermarket Division can be found at www.3Mcollision.com