When the 1985 yellow fire truck donated by Rural Metro pulled into the garage bay at EVIT, about a dozen students climbed on board eager to start their hands-on study of the big vehicle in Diesel Technology class.

When Mister and Miss EVIT were announced Saturday at the East Valley Institute of Technology, it wasn’t your usual crowning of a high school king and queen.

Gilbert High School senior Emma Allinger will make a grand entrance when EVIT Expo 2013 kicks off Saturday at Mesa’s East Valley Institute of Technology.

As a junior at Scottsdale’s Chaparral High School, Landry Low loved to sew and dreamed of working in fashion design, but wasn’t sure how she would get there. Then at a school event, this 4.6-GPA honors student happened to spot a pamphlet for the East Valley Institute of Technology in Mesa.

As it has for years, the Mesa Fire Department invested Thursday in the training of fire science students at the East Valley Institute of Technology by donating an item the school could not otherwise afford: a 1997 Pierce Quantum 4-door cab fire truck.