On June 12, 2024 Jarrod McGhee, founder and CEO of Fort Worth-based Fun Town RV, committed a check for $250,000 to Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas, with the vision of creating a lasting career path for high schoolers looking for a career in the RV trades.
This momentum to train RV technicians has continued to build in Texas, with major players in the industry backing nationwide RV training clusters with funding and other resources.
Amberly Patrick, training director for Fun Town RV, shared the extent of the support from the RV industry.
“Lippert has put in donations and they have a donation plan with Navarro,” she said. “LCI already committed to provide equipment do their Level 3 and 4 classes as continuing education classes. They make about everything and will donate the components for the classroom. They’ll give us some ACs to work on and other equipment to work on for the students.
“One thing we wanted to do,” she continued, “was educate people about the career in RVs and that you could get into the career fairly easy and work your way up. That’s what the technician school is. We’re starting with the Level 1. Then we’ll go to Level 2, and then we’ll have all the Level 3 and Level 4 classes available to be taught at the Navarro College facility as well. We already have a waiting list for enrollment.”
She shared that initially it’s accepting 12 students to each class due to the size of the facility. It’s hoping to expand to groups of 12 students per certification level to continually put students through all four.
Navarro College is located in Corsicana with other Texas branches in Mexia, Midlothian and Waxahachie. Patrick said the core curriculum through the RV Technical Institute (RVTI) will include computer literacy, forklift driving, OSHA training and LP certification, so when the students complete the coursework they will actually be Level 1 technicians. The new program was inspired by the Navarro John Deere Technician Program. It will offer comprehensive training through Level 1 and 2 RVTI Certificates, with advanced opportunities via collaborations with Lippert Technical Institute for Levels 3 & 4 RVTI Certifications.
Other details included in the curriculum are pre-delivery inspection (PDI), RV maintenance and troubleshooting, as well as proper RO write-ups.
Fun Town RV is the driving force leading to the creation of the RV tech training program at Navarro College.
“We invite industry leaders and stakeholders to join us in empowering future RV technicians and driving the industry toward a brighter, more innovative future. Together, we can make this visionary program accessible.” McGhee told RVBusiness in 2024, and he once again is backing it with investments of four Fun Town RV employee scholarships for the Navarro College RV Technician Program.
“This is an incredible opportunity for employees and their immediate family members to jumpstart a career in a high-demand industry,” said Patrick.
Tuition is fully covered. Recipients are responsible for food, transportation, lodging, and other personal expenses.
“These are kids not headed to traditional college,” concluded Patrick. “We’re trying to hit them coming out of high school in the little country towns, where they might think they don’t have anything to go to but to work in big box stores or fast food. Go through a program a couple of weeks and get out making more than $20 bucks an hour, and it can actually lead you to a real career to support a family.”
