Danny (Instructor):
And it’s not just the sacrifice of the individual — the whole family, the wife, the kids — everybody sacrifices. It’s hard. You’re away for six weeks, fully committed to studying and hands-on training.

But it’s a powerful experience.

I want to point out something important. We have four instructors in this program: Christopher, who couldn’t be here tonight, Andrew, Robert, and myself. We all have very different teaching styles and personalities — and that’s intentional.

I want that variety. Because when you get out there in the field, you’ll be working under all kinds of senior techs, company owners, or mentors — and they’re not always going to sugarcoat it. Some, like Andrew, have a potty mouth. But that’s real life. That’s the job.

From day one, I’ve told you — I don’t treat you like a student. I treat you like you’re already on the job. You’re here to learn how it really is out there.

So now… let’s see who’s coming up next.

Danny:
“Zachary, I appreciate your attendance. You were here every day. It’s a long drive. I appreciate your input and everything that you’ve learned here. So, I want to ask you to come up here, accept your certificate in recognition, and say a couple of words.”

[Applause]

Zachary Mattingly:
“Thank you. Okay… well, at least I get to do mine first.
No, I gotta say, this program has been pretty spectacular.
Andrew, Danny, Chris especially, Rob’s been great—everybody’s been great.
All the fellow classmates have made these last six weeks go by incredibly fast.
Everybody has been so nice.

And they’re not lying—
they pack a lot of information into those six weeks,
and I’m still catching up with it.
You know, I hear stuff they said three weeks ago and I’m like,
‘Oh yeah… okay.’

But yeah, I mean, it’s been pretty great.
And thank you.
Thank you all.”

[Applause]