When my son was in high school, he decided he wanted to go to technical school.
They had a program in school where they could go to technical school as part of their regular high school schedule.
They took their academics half of the day and spent the other half in their chosen technical course. My son brought home a schedule of classes they offered and he and his father sat down and went over all of the offered classes. When our son chose HVAC, my husband was a bit unsure of his choice. He was afraid that he would be putting four years into a heating, ventilation and air conditioning course and yet he would still need to go to classes after graduation, to get his certification. When they had the orientation for the technical school, my husband and I went with our son. We had our own questions to ask of the instructors. By the time we were done, my husband knew that our son was making a wise choice. HVAC was a class that he had to take for his four years of high school. When he graduated from high school, as long as his grades were good, he would graduate with a certification in heating and air conditioning. He would be able to get his certificate and go right into an apprentice program with one of the local HVAC companies. That was almost fifteen years ago. My son now has his own HVAC company and he is one of the top HVAC technicians in our state.