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Greenfield HVAC instructor Gary Young
When on-line can’t replace hands-on By Aila Boyd
Botetourt’s Greenfield Center prepares students for marketable trade skills, including high-demand welding and HVAC jobs. Virginia Western Community College’s off-campus facility at the Greenfield Education and Training Center in Botetourt County had to quickly adapt when the COVID-19 pandemic stopped in-person classes halfway through the spring semester. Unlike some programs that are easily taught online, the two offered at the center, welding and commercial heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), require a high degree of personal instruction and hands on practice. Dean of the School of Business, Technology, and Trades Yvonne Campbell explains that the lecture portion of the classes continued through online delivery. However, since both programs have lab requirements, spring semester students will have to return to campus once it’s safe to do so in order to
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complete their studies. “This is something that has never happened before. We’ve been doing a lot of planning,” she says. Safety measures are already being put into place for the upcoming fall semester, including the reduction in the number of students allowed per class. Assistant Professor Gary Young, the head of both programs, says students from all walks of life, ranging from dual-enrollment 16-yearold homeschoolers to retirees wanting to busy themselves by learning new skills, take classes in both certificate programs. In a given semester, between 75 to 100 students are enrolled in welding or HVAC. “These are programs that are going to lead to careers,” Young says. “The trades are in
