Several Area Students Graduate from HVAC School
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
HOUSTON COUNTY – Six students from local schools received their certificates for completing the two-year HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) joint program set up between Angelina College and Crockett, Latexo and Grapeland school districts.
The six students who finished the first part of the HVAC training and received their certificates were:
- Chance Cameron Baker, Latexo
- Ashton Choate, Crockett
- Michael Lott, Crockett
- Wesley McKinney, Grapeland
- Robert Shroyer, Crockett
- Hayden Smith, Crockett
The ceremony was held at Latexo High School Monday, July 10. Angelina College Director of Dual Credit Programs Jennifer Baldauf said they normally work with individual school districts, so the collaboration between several schools in Houston County was unique.
“The fact that Houston County has come together to do something like this to benefit the students is huge. And for those of you who decided to put in the extra work – because I know it was extra work – we’re so proud of you,” Baldauf said. “The more of these opportunities we can bring to this area, the better. There is so much about East Texas that is special and unique. We have places like nowhere else in the world and it’s such a special community. We want to bring the opportunity, but it’s the brave ones that choose to take it.”
Latexo Career and Technical Education teacher Chris Cravens was thanked for pushing the program and making sure students were able to take part and benefit from it. He sees the great need to promote real-world skills which can give students opportunities to work and train further as soon as they finish school.
“I’ve written grants for the Texas Workforce Commission and in doing so, you have to know what the labor market statistics are for your region. So we got together with Angelina College to put the class together for Latexo,” Cravens said. “Then I thought, ‘Well, Grapeland’s right up the road, five minutes away, their kids could drive here.’ When Crockett heard about it, they wanted to send some kids, too. It’s a really good joint venture and the labor market is screaming out for for these guys.”
Cravens agreed the push in previous times was for each student to finish college. Many graduates found themselves with a college degree, but no job and often, thousands of dollars in debt.
“The pendulum has swung – rightly – back from ‘everybody has to go to college,’ and there’s good money to be made even if you don’t go to college. We’re trying to promote that,” Cravens said.
Crockett Independent School District (CISD) Superintendent John Emerich was at the ceremony with others from CISD to celebrate his students. He said he was impressed with the outcome and plans to promote more of these programs in the future.
“From the beginning, all three schools worked together. It’s hard to get kids interested for two years of their high school career, to be planning for their future but these kids stuck with it,” Emerich said. “We just found out today during the ceremony they’re also going to get free tools from the Workforce Commission which we did not know. These kids are set up to go out and start earning a lot of money from day one and we are very excited for their future.”
For CISD student Michael Lott, taking the extra classes was not his first choice, but he’s glad he did it – and glad he stuck with it.
“It wasn’t my choice. My mom made me do it. But I’m not mad – I’m happy she did,” Lott laughed. “The class is laid back and entertaining but we learned a lot. I hope I can get one of these jobs.”
Lott echoed many who said local schools should try and offer more training for these types of positions.
“They should,” Lott said. “They should not just offer math and science but real world stuff.”
Grapeland ISD Wesley McKinney, who wants to also train to be a welder, agreed.
“I think it was a good opportunity for us. Sometimes, kids don’t have the money to go to college and this was offered to us for free and it was such a good option,” McKinney concluded.
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
