Executives with Pride Commercial Appliance Service met with students in the Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning & Refrigeration (HVAC/R) program at Capital Region BOCES on Thursday to promote the industry and recruit technicians.
Pat Allen and Bob Dunn spoke with students in teacher James Bevington’s program about the industry and what their company has to offer. The company operates across New York State and has previously hired BOCES students, including current senior Jayden Holl, who attends BOCES from the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District.
“This is a road to a lifelong career. You will never be without work,” Allen told the high school juniors.
“You can’t get a robot to climb a ladder onto a roof and change a filter. You will always have work,” he added.
The HVAC/R program at the Capital Region BOCES Career & Technical Education Center – Albany Campus gives students a solid career foundation in the HVAC/R industry. In a state-of-the-art classroom, students learn about ventilation, piping, refrigerants and refrigeration, furnaces, and boilers. But HVAC/R technicians must also perform electrical, plumbing and even construction work, so BOCES HVAC/R
“HVAC/R offers a multitude of opportunities – whether you do work in air conditioning, refrigeration, heating, transfer units … there is always opportunity for you,” Allen said.
The presentation was one of more than two-dozen activities taking place during February to mark Career and Technical Education Month. Events range from presentations by business partners, to a career fair for aspiring cosmetologists to the first-ever “Shadow a CTE Scholar Challenge” in which area school administrators will become a CTE student for a session, taking part in the full class experience alongside a student from their district.
“We have a lot of great things going on and we are proud to celebrate not only our partners, but our scholars and the education-CTE-business partnerships that make CTE a success,” said Career and Technical Education Director Jeff Palmer.
Recruitment for the 2024-25 school year is underway. For more about BOCES programs, visit https://www.capitalregionboces.org/career-technical-education/courses-programs/hvac-r-heating-ventilation-air-conditioning-refrigeration/