While many businesses struggled to get through a second full year of COVID-19 challenges in 2021, the National RV Training Academy (NRVTA) staff described last year as a pivotal year for the school, resulting in unexpected growth.
NRVTA’s 2021 highlight was becoming a certified career school through the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC), the academy stated. Terry “Cooper” Cooper, an NRVTA founder, said the application process required training advancement.
“We developed systems to train many more students than we likely would have without TWC certification,” Cooper said.
The TWC certification also gave NRVTA the ability to seek money from the Texas government to retrain unemployed or laid-off individuals to become RV technicians and inspectors.
“After completing the application process,” Cooper said, “we achieved a level of professionalism that puts us on par with the top technical training centers in America. The end result is that NRVTA is the only RV tech training center officially certified by TWC. That has opened many doors for us.”
The school weathered a rare winter storm that knocked out power to school and much of north Texas. Rolling blackouts affected dozens of students living in RVs or cabins at the adjacent RV park campus.
“Fortunately, NRVTA employs and trains master certified technicians who quickly devised solutions, ranging from bringing in portable generators for the office buildings and attaching inverters to lithium batteries to run televisions and laptops,” Cooper said. “I was immensely proud of the way our staff and students stepped up to help each other during the storm. It reaffirmed that people graduating from this program really do have servants’ hearts and a desire to make a difference in the lives they touch.”
A few months later, a 30,000-watt generator was installed as a backup power system for the Texan RV Park office, which also received a makeover with new red siding to match the campus’ other buildings. The park is used for trainings and housing of the technicians during training.
NRVTA installed a 28-by-52-foot building dedicated to advanced RV inspector training. The academy also expanded the program from two to three weeks to give students more instruction on inspection elements and detailed reporting.
To help students better see from their seats what instructors describe during classroom lectures, NRVTA added 16 separate monitors tied into to the instructor’s computer.
Ultra-high-speed fiber optic internet connections in all classrooms throughout the campus allow students to use software to complete evaluations and add notes or photos to final reports.
In addition to the inspectors’ classroom, a 5,000-square-foot addition was completed in December to the Big Red School House, where RV Fundamentals courses are taught along with all advanced training for RV technicians. The additional space created three new classrooms to accommodate 35 students each plus service bays large enough to accommodate a 40-foot RV with its slides extended and room for students to walk around or work on units.
Another project increased the size of the Texan RV Park by adding 12 pull-thru sites and four new park model cabins. The main road into and circling the park was widened by a foot and repaved.
As enrollment continued to climb, NRVTA’s staff nearly doubled in 2021 to serve more students. Among many others, 10 classroom assistants were hired to assist instructors during hands-on labs. They ensure students receive more individual attention during labs and larger classes. The largest class in 2021 had 63 students enrolled.
“While Covid forced us to make some temporary changes, like conducting classes via Zoom for a few months, we haven’t backed off on our mission to train RV technicians and inspectors,” Cooper said. “We were hitting on all cylinders last year because we anticipated increased demand and I don’t see it letting up anytime soon.
“We consider 2021 to be our building stage,” he said. “We heavily invested in NRVTA’s physical infrastructure as well as additional staff to take our business to the next level.”
