{"id":23792,"date":"2014-08-01T10:28:06","date_gmt":"2014-08-01T15:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/?p=23792"},"modified":"2014-08-01T10:28:06","modified_gmt":"2014-08-01T15:28:06","slug":"sheet-metal-instructor-going-strong-across-u-s-for-nearly-20-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/sheet-metal-instructor-going-strong-across-u-s-for-nearly-20-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheet Metal Instructor Going Strong Across U.S. For Nearly 20 Years","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"color: #555555\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/georgedonovan.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-23793 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/georgedonovan-240x300.jpg\" alt=\"georgedonovan\" width=\"240\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/georgedonovan-240x300.jpg 240w, https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/georgedonovan-819x1024.jpg 819w, https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/georgedonovan-768x960.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/georgedonovan-1229x1536.jpg 1229w, https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/georgedonovan-1638x2048.jpg 1638w, https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/georgedonovan-1200x1500.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/georgedonovan-1980x2475.jpg 1980w, https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/georgedonovan-scaled.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/><\/a>George Donovan went to school to be an aircraft mechanic, but in the last nearly two decades he\u2019s spent as a field representative for the International Training Institute (ITI), he\u2019s driven 600,000 miles, or 35,000 miles per year. He doesn\u2019t like to fly.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555\">Donovan, who works out of Centralia, Missouri, north of Columbus, covers schools in Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Iowa and Arkansas for the ITI, the education arm of the unionized sheet metal and air conditioning industry. With 153 schools across the country, Donovan\u2019s windshield time is spent supporting training directors at the 23 schools in his region and keeping staff members at those schools up on TotalTrack, the student-tracking database system.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555\">\u201cI go from area to area, and the only thing that changes is the local number,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cThe sheet metal workers from all over the country are exceptional people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555\">His time in the industry began in 1978 as a 22-year-old sheet metal apprentice when he came to the conclusion he wasn\u2019t going to make any money as an airplane mechanic. He graduated in 1982 and worked as a journeyman and then foreman while also teaching part time at his alma mater. In 1994, he became the school\u2019s apprentice director and took on the role as regional representative in 1997.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555\">As a certified welding instructor (CWI), Donovan also serves as an assessor who completes audits of the industry\u2019s welding facilities.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555\">\u201cThe schooling I had as an airplane mechanic wasn\u2019t wasted,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was applicable to two different skills for different things. Airplanes had sheet metal. They had woodworking. They had all those systems in airplanes. They gave you a basic knowledge that was useful in other areas than just being an aircraft mechanic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555\">Being a teacher involved with training and curriculum was never a job Donovan set out to fill when he entered the industry. But it\u2019s one of the most rewarding, he said. The only thing he misses \u2013 creating and building things.<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555\">\u201cThe rewarding thing is being able to work with the local training schools and being able to assist them,\u201d he added. \u201cWhenever I was working with my tools in my local area, I didn\u2019t have exposure to what else was going on in other places. After you meet all the talented people in our industry you realize. It\u2019s a humbling experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555\">More than 15,000 apprentices are registered at the 153 training facilities in the United States and Canada. The ITI is jointly sponsored by SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (formerly the Sheet Metal Workers\u2019 International Association) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors\u2019 National Association (SMACNA).<\/p>\n<p style=\"color: #555555\">ITI supports apprenticeship and advanced career training for union workers in the sheet metal industry throughout the United States and Canada. Located in Fairfax, Va., ITI produces a standardized sheet metal curriculum supported by a wide variety of training materials free of charge to sheet metal apprentices and journeymen.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>George Donovan went to school to be an aircraft mechanic, but in the last nearly two decades he\u2019s spent as a field representative for the International Training Institute (ITI), he\u2019s driven 600,000 miles, or 35,000 miles per year. He doesn\u2019t like to fly. Donovan, who works out of Centralia, Missouri, north of Columbus, covers schools [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":9,"featured_media":23793,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"member_types":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sheet Metal Instructor Going Strong Across U.S. For Nearly 20 Years - SMART Union<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smart-union.org\/sheet-metal-instructor-going-strong-across-u-s-for-nearly-20-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sheet Metal Instructor Going Strong Across U.S. For Nearly 20 Years - SMART Union\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"George Donovan went to school to be an aircraft mechanic, but in the last nearly two decades he\u2019s spent as a field representative for the International Training Institute (ITI), he\u2019s driven 600,000 miles, or 35,000 miles per year. 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