Iowa school bus tech takes state title
Kevin Settle of Western Dubuque Community School District wins Iowa's fifth annual "Best of the Best" competition for school bus technicians. He advances to this year's national competition, to be held in Seattle in September.
Kevin Settle (right), winner of Iowa's "Best of the Best" competition for school bus technicians, accepts his award from Owen Freese, executive director of the Iowa Pupil Transportation Association.
It's Settle to Seattle in September.
That's the result of Iowa's fifth annual "Best of the Best" competition for school bus technicians, held at Thomas Bus Sales in Des Moines on June 12.
Kevin Settle, a technician from Western Dubuque Community School District, won the competition, which tested contestants with a written exam and a hands-on challenge.
The event, which also included half a day of training, drew 23 participants from 16 school districts in the state.
State pupil transportation director Max Christensen pointed to the strong turnout and called this year's Best of the Best event "the most successful one yet."
"Of course, 'best' is only relative, since every one of our participants is an awesome mechanic and was a credit to our competition," Christensen added.
Settle now advances to the national America's Best competition for school bus technicians and inspectors, which will be held Sept. 24-27 in Seattle.
More on last year's America's Best event:
• Photo gallery: 2012 America's Best competition
• Repeat wins for America's Best bus tech, inspector
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