Raymundo Linares was a Waukegan High School sophomore two years ago when a counselor told him an HVAC program was going to be offered the following year upon the completion of a classroom, complete with the tools and equipment to learn the trade. He decided to enroll.
When he arrived at the Washington campus for the start of the 2023-2024 school year as a junior, the HVAC lab was complete but there was no instructor to teach the course. This fall, a teacher arrived and he was glad to take HVAC 1 designed as the first of two years of study.
“I’m learning how to be an HVAC technician,” Linares said. “If I want to take the second course, I can do it at CLC,” he added, referring to the existing program at the College of Lake County. “I may look at another program like automotive or wood.”
Linares was one of several students demonstrating the equipment used to teach the skills needed to repair furnaces and air conditioners at a recent HVAC lab open house at Waukegan High School’s Washington Campus showing the program to the community.
Designed to be a two-year program, Dina Kessler, one of the two HVAC teachers, said most of the students are juniors who will be able to take the more advanced HVAC 2 course as seniors, which puts them close to the credentials to work as a technician.
Once a student completes HVAC 1 and HVAC 2, Jon Schwartz, the other teacher in the program, said with a semester at CLC or another community college students will qualify for a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency certificate as a trained technician.
With a certificate, Kessler said a technician can start earning $40,000 a year and anticipate an increase in three to six months to $50,000 annually. In a few years, pay can climb to $75,000 yearly. With overtime, a person can make $100,000 a year.
During the first year, Schwartz said the students — there are currently 13 in the class for the second semester — concentrate on learning the skills needed to maintain the air conditioning portion of the unit.
“They learn basic refrigeration,” Schwartz said. “They learn how to put refrigerant into the units. They understand how it changes from liquid to vapor.
Both Linares and Jocsan Cruz, a junior, were showing guests at the open house how they learn on a small model. Cruz said the see-through apparatus the size of a fish aquarium helps them understand how furnaces and air conditioners work. There are also full-size units in the lab.
“You can actually see what’s happening inside,” Cruz said. “This is the cold,” he added, pointing to the left side. “This side is hot. You can feel it. This is how we learn to test things.”
Cruz said he too learned about the course from his counselor and decided to take it. Right now, he is not certain if becoming an HVAC technician is in his future, but it is now something he will consider.
When this year’s first-year students move into HVAC 2 next year, Schwartz said they will concentrate more on the heating portion of the vocation. Warming a building requires knowing more about electricity.
“Electricity is something you can’t see, and 80% of the problems you encounter are electrical,” Schwartz said.
As she has helped teach students about air conditioning this year, Kessler said she has educated herself, too. She is now a much better consumer should she need work done at her home.
A joint effort between Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 and Johnson Controls. The HVAC manufacturing company designed, built and donated the lab located in the basement of the high school’s Washington campus.
Yollande Tchpoujpai, Johnson’s regional vice president for building solutions in North America, said the company primarily designs and maintains HVAC systems for commercial locations, but does some residential projects.
“This will help build careers and a pool of talent for our HVAC industry,” Tchpoujpai said.
