Although he excelled in a traditional classroom setting, when Mathew Wolfe was a teen he became very interested in cars and the hands-on learning that accompanied it. As a Penns Valley student, Wolfe graduated with a 3.7-grade point average and took as many advanced classes as possible. However, as a senior high student he wanted more control of his future courses and decided CPI would be a good fit.
His educational career at CPI culminated in winning the Automotive Technology Science Student of the Year recognized by receiving the E. Dale Simpson Award. While in school he worked at Tri-County Toyota then was placed at Volkswagen and Volvo of State College through CPI’s cooperative education program, which he said made his final year of high school a bit more fun, working half of the day while learning on-the-job credits for school. During his junior and senior year, Matt competed in the “Top Tech Challenge”, sponsored by The Universal Technical Institute (UTI) placing seventh and second respectively. Through these competitions, he accepted UTI’s offer for a full scholarship and attended school at their Exton, PA campus. While there he received the highest grades in his class and earned the honor of delivering the campus’ graduation speech. In addition, he passed eight Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) exams and was recently notified that he earned the 2018 ASE Technician of the Future Award for his high scores, which includes a paid trip with a guest to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the awards ceremony.
Due to his success and accomplishments, Matt received several employment opportunities, but wanting to stay close to home, he returned to work at Rebersburg Inspection and Small Engine as an automotive technician. When asked about his thoughts of CPI, he stated, “They have very knowledgeable instructors and many of the things you do in CPI are what you do in the field and need to know. In many ways CPI prepared me better than UTI with more real-world situations and experiences.”