HVACR Instructor Jon Scott, right, has been teaching at the Barren County Area Technology Center for roughly 5 years and has been trying to attend the national conference for many years. Photo courtesy of Shelia Childress and the BCATC.
By MICHAEL CRIMMINS
Glasgow News 1
Barren County Area Technology Center HVACR — or heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration — Instructor Jon Scott is one of two recipients of the D. Brian Baker Memorial Scholarship enabling him to attend the National HVACR Education Conference.
The scholarship is sponsored by the Council of Refrigeration Educators, the ESCO Institute, and HVAC Excellence in honor of D. Brian Baker who, according to the ESCO Institute, was “an advocate for continued learning and professional development.”
Scott, who have been an HVACR instructor at the center for 5 years but has been in the trade for roughly 25 years, said the national conference is essentially a big networking opportunity that he has been trying to go to for roughly 4 years.
“I’ve been putting in for it [but] we work on a shoestring budget so I don’t have a lot of funding [to go],” Scott said. “I saw that this scholarship so I filled it out and happened to win but I’ve asked to go for 4 years but never had enough funding.”
The 2024 conference, which “offer attendees the opportunity to select from over 80 in-person training sessions while meeting with representatives from industry-leading organizations,”
is set to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Mar. 24-27. Scott said the scholarship covers the cost of his plane ticket and 4 nights at a Las Vegas hotel.
Scott said he is excited to “pick the brains” of important individuals in the HVACR world — including, for example, the person whose videos they watch in Scott’s class and the author of the textbook they use — and bring their knowledge back to the classroom.
“Our industry is changing completely in 2024,” Scott said. “Everything is going to be totally different so I’ve been trying to get out there because I knew this [change] was coming and this could get me to the head of the stream.”
Scott said he is eager to attend the March conference not only for himself but for his students as well.
“I can’t wait to go,” Scott said. “I’m very excited.”
The other individual selected for the scholarship was William Evans in East Brunswick, New Jersey.
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