HOUSTON COUNTY, Ga. — Houston County Career Academy offers trade-skill courses, helping students like Micah Wimpy connect with industry leaders and employers through local partnerships.
"I was going to be in the mechanics program at the career academy, but it was filled up, and I saw that HVAC was there. I thought to myself that would be fun," he said.
Partnerships with local businesses help students get hands on training.
"It's really good because you get on-the-job training along with the career academy teaching you how to work on units and also Bernie Joerger from Comfort Air came in and spoke to us," Wimpy said.
Air Conditioning Technology Instructor Lucas Fletcher says Joerger's been a valuable asset, helping their HVAC students get scholarships to Central Georgia Tech while job training.
"He got with some guys and they ended up making three scholarships for kids out of the HVAC program so there'd be no out of pocket, they don't even have to pay for books. I mean, there's no out of pocket expense at all. He's hired like five guys. I think three or four are still with him," Fletcher said.
Joerger won an award from the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia for his work with students.
Joerger was sick on the day of the scheduled interview with 13WMAZ, but gave a statement on the importance of local partnerships saying:
There are many students that have great talent, but don't understand that they can have a long, lucrative career in the skilled trades. It's our job as an industry to educate young people about the skills gap that exists between the jobs that are needed and the talent we need in the pipeline in the coming years.
He's encouraging younger generations to pursue the trade skill jobs that help us all.
On Tuesday, the Construction Education Foundation of Georgia featured Joerger on their weekly Facebook Live chat where he shared his experience in the business.
You can find that video by clicking here.