“Steve is a talented and absolute NERD in the HVAC world. He’s open to new ideas and methods while being able to lay the foundation of how things are. Honestly, I’ve never had a teacher who treated me with so much respect and kindness. I can be a frustrating student because I’m really keen and inquisitive and he NEVER made me feel like I was interrupting or irritating him. I was praised for my curiosity. I’ll never forget the way he showed up for me.”
Steve is an instructor in the Plumbing and Pipe Trades program at Camosun where he teaches refrigeration, and one of our 2024 Teacher Recognition award recipients. Steve began working in refrigeration when he was 18, completing his apprenticeship after five years then eventually he went to work at the University of Victoria (UVic) doing refrigeration and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) maintenance. As someone with a new family, Steve enjoyed the stability of the UVic job, but after seven years decided he was ready for a new challenge. In 2022, “I was playing hockey with somebody who worked at Camosun, and he asked if I had ever thought about teaching because he thought I’d be good at it. They were looking for a refrigeration instructor, so I checked it out and as soon as I met the team, I was hooked.”
I was curious about what exactly the study of refrigeration entails, and Steve explained that “refrigeration is anything with a refrigeration cycle. Anything from an ice machine to slushy and soft-serve ice-cream machines, to walk-in coolers and freezers, to AC and HVAC systems and heat pumps, to ice plants like hockey rinks, curling rinks, and everything in between.” And in the program at Camosun, students learn it all.
I asked Steve what he enjoys most about teaching. “It’s diverse, it’s challenging, it’s fulfilling, and the whole team here is very supportive. I really enjoy watching students learning and then applying what they learned.” Steve told me he likes to figure out what will work for students and what won’t. “I bring a discussion mentality into the classroom which engages the students in sharing their questions and experiences; I enjoy an involved classroom where students get to participate. I also bring practical examples in – for almost every situation we discuss, I have a real-world example available, either something I’ve done, a video of an expert in the field, or something we do in our shop. Our students mostly learn by doing or seeing directly, not just by reading or being told and I try to emphasize that in my program.”
I was curious if the students in Steve’s program come in with experience in refrigeration. “In the foundations program we mostly see students who haven’t worked in the trade before. That’s a fun program because they’re all fresh and they don’t have any experience. But now I mostly teach the apprenticeship levels, levels three and four, and those students have all worked in the field for at least two to three years, so they bring their own experiences to the classroom.” That means in these classes, everyone, including Steve, learns from each other which is important in a trade that is evolving faster than anyone can keep up with. “I also have to keep current with what’s changing by going to conventions and training seminars because our program has to adjust accordingly.”
At the apprenticeship level, Steve enjoys the math component of the courses. “Students call me the HVAC nerd because I’m good at breaking down formulas, why we use them, how we use them, etc. We have access to digital tools and apps now, but students need to understand where the final numbers come from.” Steve also likes the foundation students. “They’re fun and you get to spend a lot of time with them because that program is 30 weeks long. What I like most is guiding them into discovering what they want to do in this diverse trade and where their strengths are and helping them to find where they fit.” Next year, Steve will see some of his first foundation students coming back for level four apprenticeship. “That’ll be my first full circle, which is very fulfilling.”
Jumping off this, I asked if there were moments in his teaching life that stood out to Steve. “I focus a lot on pressure enthalpy diagrams, which is the study of refrigeration cycle and psychrometrics, which is the study of air properties. For most students, these are hard concepts to grasp, so I find fun ways to make it more practical. One student came up to me and said, ‘I’ve heard about pressure enthalpy diagrams in two levels in a row, but I didn’t understand them until you explained it.’ And the next job they went to, they drew out a pressure enthalpy diagram and used it while they were on the job. Everything had just clicked, which was a really fulfilling moment. Also, when students pass the red seal exam and tell me how they feel confident to go and do any job, those are stand-out moments for me.”
As for advice Steve might have for new faculty coming on to teach for the first time, he emphasized how fantastic the teams in Trades are. “I was very nervous: I was one of the youngest trades instructors that we’d ever hired, and I had never taught before in front of a classroom. But the whole department gets behind you. If I had never used a tool or process before, three of them would meet me at 7:00 am to give me an hour lesson on it so then I could show the students. I’ve never had that amount of support in the workplace. It was a team effort, and that applies to the whole campus community. I’ve never had situation where I felt I was asking a silly question or not being supported. Even the students themselves are very supportive – they understand that instructors are people too. Learning is a collaborative effort for everybody, and I’ve never had a class where I didn’t learn something too. It’s that ongoing process of learning that is fulfilling and challenging that continues to hook me.”