The Teche Area is showing its versatility as local education moves into the 21st century. Area residents can now take greater advantage of an expanding job market in the field of heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration technology thanks to New Iberia’s Louisiana Technical College Teche Area campus.

Upon approval of the college’s self-evaluation, the nonprofit validating organization HVACR Excellence sent a team of executive members to the New Iberia campus for an onsite review in October, resulting in the accreditation of the the college’s heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and refrigeration program.

Assistant Dean Camille Jarrell said while any accreditation involves a large number of people working together, one of the driving forces behind achieving this academic goal has been instructor Charles Kibbe.

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“He teaches HVAC, and his classes are very popular,” Jarrell said. “This semester he’s teaching a number of evening courses for older students, those who work through the day. Demand for the course is very good. It’s remained about steady, but that’s probably going to change with the slowed-down economy.”

Tough economic times have traditionally seen a rise in overall college enrollment as people head back to school to gain additional and varied skills.

Graduates of Louisiana Technical College’s Teche Area campus are doing well in the post-academic job market and with the newly acquired accreditation will do even better.

“Demand is high,” Kibbe said.

“What remains to be seen is is how that will change in a slowed economy. Right now there’s a great demand for labor.”

Kibbe knows having the program accredited adds value to the degree and is beneficial to both the school and the students and assures businesses of their graduates’ qualifications.

“The benefits are that they show the shop has the proper equipment, tools and that the instructor has the knowledge,” Kibbe said. “The graduates of this program that employees hire have standards, because the shop does, too.”

Certification from a national certification agency is a strong selling point for all involved with the certified program.

“The HVAC Excellence evaluation team reviewed the qualifications of the Instructor, the mission of the program, administrative responsibilities, fi-nance and funds, student services, instruction de-sign and program elements, physical facilities, equipment and tools and cooperative training,” said a report released by the college.