The Volusia County Schools Workforce Expo event held at Pine Ridge High School on March 26, 2026 offered students options to consider before they graduate from high school.
From hands-on demonstrations and simulators to soft skills development, students gained valuable insight into resumes, interviews, and what it takes to make a strong first impression.
Students experienced hands-on demonstrations, simulators, a soft skills area and 4 expert panel discussion opportunities.
Leland Wilbert, Pine Ridge High School HVAC Instructor and HVAC Academy Director, invited ACprosite to attend this year’s event, as Trane Florida and contractors Climate Control Heating & Air and Criste Construction, Heating & Air Conditioning were among the exhibitors.
“We think this is one of the best ways to show students in high school about our trade,” stated Al Taylor of Criste Construction, Heating and Air Conditioning. “In fact, a former student and current employee, Dwayne Chamorro, met us at a previous Expo and is here today sharing his experiences with soon to be graduates.”
Shawn and Crystal Hiss, owners of Climate Control Heating & Air, echoed Al’s feelings. “There aren’t many opportunities for us to get in front of students before they decide what career they’re going to follow,” Crystal said. By supporting Leland and the HVAC Academy we’re doing our part to strengthen the HVAC workforce.”
Lyndon Cook, Trane Florida Regional Manager, stated “Things that we want to get across to everybody is, it’s not you go high school and you have to go to college, and you have to follow a certain track. There are so many different things you can do, whether it be with first responders or whether it be in the trades or whether it be technical schools. There are just so many opportunities and we want to make sure the students are aware of those, so they have options when they get ready to leave high school.”
After the Expo, Leland and HVAC 1 and 2 instructor John Marotte conducted a tour of the Pine Ridge High School HVAC Academy. The HVAC Technology program’s purpose is “to prepare students for employment or advanced training in the heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration industry.”
Pine Ridge High School is the first in the country to be HVAC Excellence Certified through Esco Institute. The Academy currently has 144 students (467 over the last 4 years) who have earned an ESCO Institute employment-ready certification in either AC, Electrical or Heat Pump.
The Academy occupies several spaces at the high school with the largest classroom featuring seven operating conventional split system air conditioners and heat pumps, working window units used to teach the refrigerant cycle and components and stations for coil repair and brazing. Leland envisions this space adding a second level to include simulating an attic AHU installation and allowing for expansion into water-cooled and commercial package system training stations. “The students need the oddities, some of the new rotary compressor systems, mini-splits, dampers, water cooled systems,” Leland stated.
The other spaces offer classroom and online training for thermal and mini-split troubleshooting, refrigerant recovery and charging and climate control systems.
“Everything you’ve seen here was built by the students,” Leland said at the conclusion of the tour. “They work as teams finding solutions to their challenges. It’s being team players, workmanship. It’s understanding that HVAC isn’t the most difficult thing to learn, It’s the other stuff. I’m trying to help them become better people. They set the standard and those following them try to achieve or exceed those standards.”
View the Volusia County Schools Instagram post about the Workforce Expo HERE.
