In partnership with Wilson Tech · Western Suffolk BOCES
Learn the trade and the whole business — from the inside.
A hands-on HVAC training program for Wilson Tech students. Start by learning how a real, growing HVAC company works, advance into paid hands-on field work as you prove yourself, and open a path toward a career in the trade.
Wilson Tech/ educates
·Cool Power/ hosts & mentors
·B²/ designs the program
The partnership
Three partners, one program.
This program brings together a respected career-and-technical-education provider, an established local HVAC company, and the firm that designs and runs the program structure. Each plays a clear role.
Educates
Wilson Tech
Western Suffolk BOCES · NY State approved CTE
Wilson Tech teaches the HVAC and plumbing fundamentals in the classroom and shop, including the safety and theory groundwork. As a New York State approved cooperative program, it selects the students and approves the on-site learning arrangement with Cool Power.
Hosts & mentors
Cool Power
Long Island HVAC · 10,000+ customers
An established, growing HVAC contractor that opens its doors as the learning site. Students are paired with experienced supervisors who have done the trade for decades and who reinforce the classroom learning with close, real-world supervision.
Designs the program
B² Capital
Operating partner behind Cool Power
B² invests in people and technology — putting modern tools into technicians' hands so they spend less time on paperwork and more on craft. It designed this program's structure and the development framework that gives students and teachers visibility into each student's growth.
The path
A real ladder — from learning, to paid work, to a career.
The program is built as a genuine progression. You begin by learning the business and observing the trade, advance into paid hands-on work as you prove yourself, and can continue after graduation into a full-time career track.
Phase 1
Educational internship · Unpaid
Learn how the business works.
You come to Cool Power to see the trade in action — riding along with and learning from technicians, observing how a system is diagnosed and repaired, and spending time in the shop learning the fundamentals. It's about building real understanding and judging fit, in both directions.
Can begin earlier in the school year
Phase 2
Work-study · Paid
Take on supervised hands-on work.
Students who progress move into a paid work-study position as a member of the team, under a formal agreement with the school. This is where real hands-on field work happens — always alongside an assigned mentor who directs meaningful, progressive work.
Begins in January, after the school confirms classroom performance
After graduation
Technician Graduate Program
Step into a career.
The ladder doesn't end at high school. Cool Power runs a full-time Technician Graduate Program — a structured rotation through every department for HVAC graduates, with hands-on work across the business and the potential to lead to a full-time position.
The destination at the top of the ladder
What you'll learn
See HVAC from every angle.
The program is built around a rotation through the departments of the business, so you understand the whole operation end-to-end — not just one station. You move through each department over time, learning what it does and building real skills as you go.
How the rotation deepens — from observing to hands-on
Scroll across to see Phase 2 →
Phase 1Observe & learn · from the fall
Phase 2Supervised hands-on · from January
Kathy · Office & Dispatch
Hands-on
Hands-on
Mike · Ductwork & New Construction
Observe
Hands-on
Dan · Service Technicians
Observe
Hands-on
Duane · Replacement & Install
Observe
Hands-on
Sal · Commercial
Observe
Observe
Kathy — Office & DispatchMike — Ductwork & New ConstructionDan — Service TechniciansDuane — Replacement & InstallSal — Commercial
A rotation, not a fixed block. Students move through every department over the program — typically 1–3 days a week on a set weekly schedule. This map shows the shape of the rotation and how it deepens from observation to supervised hands-on work; the exact cadence is set with the school.
Office and dispatch come first. Time with Kathy is the context for every field day that follows — students start by learning how calls become jobs before heading into the shop and the field.
Kathy leads
Office, Procedures & Dispatch
What the department does
The nerve center of the business — incoming calls, job routing, technician scheduling, customer communication, invoicing, and internal procedures. Everything that happens in the field starts here.
What you gain
Both phasesLearn how calls turn into jobs, how schedules drive the day, how customer-service protocols work, and how the field-service software coordinates the whole operation. This is the context for every field day that follows.
Dispatch & scheduling
Customer communication
Field-service software
Invoicing & procedures
Mike leads
Ductwork & New Construction
What the department does
Designs and installs ductwork and complete HVAC systems for new-construction projects — starting from blueprints, working alongside other trades, and building the system from scratch.
What you gain
Phase 1Shop-based learning and observation of sheet-metal work, duct design, and how HVAC fits into new builds.
Phase 2Supervised hands-on shop work, building foundational grounding that shapes how you understand every system.
Sheet-metal fundamentals
Duct design & sizing
Reading blueprints
Trade coordination
Dan leads
Service Technicians
What the department does
Responds to service and repair calls across Cool Power's 10,000-customer base — diagnosing system issues, handling breakdowns, and running preventative-maintenance visits under service contracts.
What you gain
Phase 1Ride along and observe a technician at work — diagnostics is the most technically demanding discipline in HVAC.
Phase 2Supervised hands-on diagnostics: reading systems, using gauges and meters, and troubleshooting electrical and refrigerant issues.
Diagnostics
Gauges & meters
Electrical & refrigerant
Customer communication
Duane leads
Replacement & Install
What the department does
Installs replacement HVAC systems in existing homes — the core of Cool Power's business. Furnaces, condensers, air handlers, and heat pumps, often within older infrastructure and tight spaces.
What you gain
Phase 1Observe installs on site and learn how new systems are fitted into existing homes from start to finish.
Phase 2Supervised hands-on install work — equipment sizing, line sets, condensate drainage, and installation technique.
Equipment sizing
Installation technique
Line sets
Condensate drainage
Sal leads
Commercial
What the department does
Handles light-commercial HVAC — rooftop units, split systems for offices and small businesses, and commercial service accounts. Larger equipment, different code requirements, and business customers with different expectations than homeowners.
What you gain
Both phasesObserve how commercial differs from residential in scope, equipment, customer dynamics, and safety — enough exposure to understand the segment and whether you might want to specialize in it later.
Rooftop & split systems
Commercial code
Business customers
Specialization
The heart of the program
A better technician understands the whole business.
You'll see HVAC from every angle — the office, the shop, the trucks, new construction, and commercial — and learn how the office and the field depend on each other. Alongside the trade, you build the professional habits it actually runs on: communication, reliability, customer trust, and showing up ready.
Modern HVAC technology
You get exposure to the modern tools the company is rolling out — modern dispatching, software, diagnostic technology, and AI-assisted systems — right alongside the fundamentals. The trade is changing, and you'll learn it the way it's actually practiced today.
The whole-business view
Most training puts you at one station. Here you move through every department and see how the operation connects end-to-end. That perspective — plus the professional habits that come with it — is what sets a technician apart over a whole career.
What you'll get
Real skills, real mentorship, a real record of your growth.
Exposure to every department of an established, growing HVAC contractor.
Hands-on learning of the fundamentals — observation-first to begin with, supervised hands-on work as you advance.
Mentorship from supervisors who've done the trade for decades.
A structured record of your development and growth.
A completion certificate and a recommendation from the Cool Power team.
Skills that transfer to any HVAC employer in the region.
A real pathway — from learning the business, to paid work-study, to a career.
Progress & development
You'll always know how you're growing.
The program tracks each student's development across a clear set of growth areas. It's encouraging by design — built to show you your strengths and what to work on next, and to give teachers real visibility into how you're progressing.
Visibility, both ways
Built to measure growth, not to grade.
We measure progress from where each student starts — so the picture is about improvement over time, not a pass-or-fail score. Strengths and next steps are written in plain language.
Students see their own development clearly. Teachers and the school get a clear, ongoing view of how each student is coming along on site.
Technical ability & learning speed
Organization & care for tools
Following instructions & receiving feedback
Customer interactions
Professional appearance & manners
Safety awareness
Work ethic
Coachability
Reliability & professionalism
How it works
A set schedule that fits the school day.
The program runs on the school's calendar. Students are excused from their regular Tech program for a set number of days each week, on a fixed weekly schedule, so everyone knows who's on site when.
Days per week
1–3 days, fixed
Students attend 1 to 3 days each week — the same days every week. The cadence is flexible to fit the student, but the schedule itself is set and consistent.
Daily sessions
Two session blocks
Morning7:55 – 10:40 am
Afternoon11:40 am – 2:25 pm
Transportation
Students provide their own
Students arrange their own transportation to the job site and back to school each placement day. There is no busing — it's a requirement of taking part.
Especially well-suited to afternoon students with their own transportation.
Afternoon students have finished their academics for the day, so they can stay on site longer and get deeper exposure. Morning students are welcome too, in a more compact form, since they generally head back to their home school around 11:00–11:15 am. After-school time on site focuses on general exposure and observation.
Safety is shared.
Wilson Tech provides the classroom safety and theory instruction; Cool Power reinforces it with close, hands-on supervision on site. Students are always paired with an experienced supervisor.
Who it's for
Motivated students ready to learn the trade.
The program is for Wilson Tech HVAC students the school identifies as ready — motivated, reliable, and genuinely interested in the trade. The school selects and screens every participant.
16–18
Ages
A mix of juniors and seniors, likely skewing younger in the first run.
5–10
First cohort
A small first group, with room to grow as the school adds HVAC sections.
1–3
Days per week
On a fixed weekly schedule, set with the school.
School-led
Selection
Wilson Tech identifies and screens the students who take part.
What the school looks for
Good attendance, solid academic standing, no disciplinary issues, and genuine interest in the trade. These are students the school identifies as ready to make the most of the opportunity.
When each phase starts
Phase 1 (the educational internship) can begin earlier in the school year. Phase 2 (paid work-study) begins in January, once the school confirms a student's first- and second-quarter classroom performance. Eligibility for paid work can depend on a student's age and working papers.
Get involved
Interested? Here's the next step.
Whether you're a student, a parent, or school staff, the best next step is a conversation. Reach out to the Wilson Tech coordinator or the Cool Power team and we'll take it from there.