Danny (Narrator):
“One of the things we’re proud of at HVAC Technical Academy is that we listen to what the community needs.
One company told us straight out—’If your graduates can’t cut the boards and make the right boxes, don’t even bother sending them.’
Well, we do. You do. You deliver. That’s what matters most.
There’s a great deal of confidence here, and I’m incredibly proud of you.
This class would not have been the same without you.
So, Stephen, please come on up here.”
Applause

Stephen (Attendee):
“All right—first of all, I want to say thank you to everyone.
To my family—Lord have mercy, they’ve had to deal with me! I’ve been explaining heat pumps, straight cool systems, all of it.
When our unit went out at home, I had just finished learning about compressors. They probably looked at me like, ‘Okay, HVAC school guy, when’s it turning back on?’
Crazy thing was, just after I said the compressor was bad—it came back on 12 hours later. So I went from Clark Kent to Superman—only after it fixed itself!
I came in with this gentleman named Straight Cool Connor. We showed up on the same day and saw Danny, and I swear, he was probably looking at me thinking, ‘This guy’s so old he could sneeze dust!’
And I looked over at Straight Cool and thought, ‘Yeah… he’s kind of old too.’ But really, I was talking about myself!
Then I heard Robert talk about age, and I felt right at home.
To the rest of the folks, Lord have mercy, I wanted to baptize everybody twice a day—and myself four times a day. But I’ve been through this before.
Raising kids? Same thing. It’s like hitting the reset button over and over.
Some of these students? Especially my buddies to the left and right? They used to drive me crazy.
But I had fun. We joked around. Every time they asked, ‘How are you doing?’ I gave them the same answer: ‘Blessed beyond measure.’
And that’s how I feel.
If they need anything in the future, they know they can call me.
And yes, I accept Cash App!
Thank you very much. I appreciate all of you.”
Applause