Daniel Ramos, who teaches Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) at the Virginia Beach Technical and Career Education Center, is the 2021 Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS) Citywide Teacher of the Year. Superintendent Aaron Spence made the announcement from the School Administration Building May 8, 2020.

After graduating from Tallwood High School and completing the HVAC program at the Tech Center, Ramos worked for nearly a decade at All Seasons Heating and Cooling. It was there that he earned his Virginia HVAC master tradesman and gasfitter licenses and developed a training curriculum for new technicians. He brought these skills back to the Tech Center and took the slot made available when his former instructor retired.

"He 'walks the walk' daily, and his students having a firsthand example of and being able to interact with a man with this type of success in the industry as a result of participation in the TCE HVAC program is the ultimate display of success," said Robert Marlin, Jr., a VBCPS counselor. "Just as Mr. Ramos had this awesome opportunity to pay it forward as a teacher, his students frequently return years after graduation to visit and volunteer to work with the classes helping students learn and to encourage them to take full advantage of the opportunities (that) careers in HVAC present."

During his seven years at the Tech Center, Ramos has updated the HVAC lab, completed a third-party accreditation through HVAC Excellence, and led his students to championships at the Skills USA district HVAC competition every year. He is particularly proud of his class participation in the house-building program for the Virginia Beach Education Foundation, a program that helps to support VBCPS teachers and their special projects. In each new house, constructed every two years, Ramos' students install state-of-the-art high efficiency heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, thereby gaining real-world experience in construction and interaction with other trades.

"Ramos has been a crucial part of getting students future-ready," according to the Center's Director, David Swanger. "Through his commitment to excellence, creative teaching abilities and extremely hard work, Mr. Ramos' HVAC Excellence Accredited program has become one of the Tech Center's most highly sought-after trades. Further, his efforts have equated to great success for many of his students as they have gone on to become successful Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration technicians."

"I teach because I feel that it's something I was always meant to do," Ramos wrote in his Teacher of the Year application. "Interacting with students is one of the most interesting and rewarding careers there is. My students are able to use the skills that I teach them to attain gainful employment. It is truly a joy when students return with success stories."

Ramos was selected as the 2021 VBCPS Citywide Teacher of the Year from an initial pool of 87 Teachers of the Year. The selection committee visited the classrooms of and interviewed five finalists to determine the citywide winner. The other finalists are Angela Cosimano, a social studies teacher at Princess Anne High School; Robert Mages, an adapted physical education teacher; Christina Vogt, a drama teacher at Salem High School; and Rebecca Yaple, a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) educator at Bayside Middle School.

Ramos will be honored officially Nov. 12, during the annual Teacher of the Year Dinner, hosted by the Virginia Beach Education Foundation and held at the Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront. To learn more about this event and how you may be a part of supporting our teachers, visit www.vbef.org.

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Department of Communications and Community Engagement, [email protected]

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