2025 Rappahannock County High School graduate Hunter Jenkins says the Trades Academy classes and the CDL course he took at Laurel Ridge Community College have helped him to get hired by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and to take on a new role.
Jenkins first attended the HVAC Trades Academy at the Fauquier Campus when he was a senior, taking HVAC classes. He completed the Heavy Equipment Operator (HEO) program just after the end of his senior year.
“I just kind of come from that kind of background where I’ve always grown up working with my hands,” Jenkins said. “My whole life, my family has always done that type of labor. I knew that I wasn’t looking at a two- or four-year college. I was just expanding my options by attending the Trades Academy.”
He said his class was the first Rappahannock County High one to get to experience the Trades Academy.
“It was a pretty cool experience that I thought fit me and my lifestyle pretty good,” said Jenkins. “The classes are taught by individuals who are actually in the field and are licensed and very knowledgeable.”
He said he attended HVAC classes in the morning, returning to his high school for the rest of the day. Jenkins decided to take the HEO course because his father has operated equipment and even has some of his own, so he wanted to expand his knowledge, too.
Jenkins began working for VDOT in late 2025.
“I think the academy played a role in my getting hired because it showed my wanting to take initiative, wanting to learn, wanting to expand myself,” he said.
Initially, Jenkins worked with a signs and paint marking crew, and now he is with a structure and bridge crew, which required he attain a CDL license within a year. So, Jenkins returned to Laurel Ridge – this time at the Middletown Campus – to take CDL classes.
Jenkins began working for VDOT in late 2025.
“I feel like the class was very beneficial,” he said. “The instructors were knowledgeable. That was probably my favorite of the classes I’ve taken through Laurel Ridge.”
Jenkins said he would “definitely” recommend the Trades Academy and other Workforce Solutions classes to other high school students. He singled out Laurel Ridge Workforce Solutions career coach Lisa Heiser for praise.
“I feel like for those kids who are in that field and have that vision to use their hands, and don’t want to go to a four-year college, the Trades Academy and having those sorts of classes give them the opportunity that other kids have and they deserve, too,” he said. “Lisa Heiser was part of the big reason I’ve taken these classes. She would always advocate for the students and push them to better themselves.”