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Eight years ago the HVACR program at the Upper Valley Joint Vocational School in Piqua, Ohio, had only 12 students and was in danger of being closed. Today it has 37 students, is attracting national attention and is preparing to break ground on a new facility.
The instructor who has taken the program from near death to flourishing is Scott Naill. Naill, however, refuses to take credit for this remarkable turnaround.
"The success has come from the students, the employers and the administration," he says modestly. "I just guide things."
That guidance led to a designation by the National Dissemination Center for Career and Technical Education as one of the promising programs for 2001. In bestowing this recognition, the National Dissemination Center noted the Upper Valley JVS program's role in preparing students for high-demand technical positions within the field and said, "In response to the need to set higher academic and technical standards, the program has been changed from an appliance repair class to a modern, state-of-the-art residential and commercial training facility, setting higher academic and technical standards."
The recognition helped the program to improve even further, because Naill says they were then able to put together a grant emphasizing academics and career tech. They formed an advisory committee to get ideas for preparing students for the Ohio Proficiency Test and investigated software used to enhance skills. A recruitment video about the program was professionally produced and is used to help educate parents, students and high school counselors about career paths after graduation from the HVACR program.
A PATH TO SUCCESS
Upper Valley JVS draws students from 14 associate high school districts in Miami and Shelby counties, so it is important that parents and counselors understand that a career and technical education program such as the HVACR program is not an educational dead end followed by a low-paying job. Instead it is quite the opposite. There are articulation agreements in place with Sinclair Community College in Dayton and the University of Northwestern Ohio in Lima, as well as apprenticeship programs that can lead to scholarships.
Industry support has been another critical...