Late last winter, U.S. Army veteran and NMU student Travis Syrja was having major issues with his existing boiler, which proved unfixable. The single father resorted to using small electric heaters in his Negaunee home. That won't be necessary this season. Through the support of area businesses and the efforts of his instructor and fellow second-year students in Northern's HVAC/R program, Syrja's home is now equipped with a new boiler.
“Words cannot describe what this means to me,” he said. “What Ross [Christensen] did for me was go above and beyond as an instructor. I have heard of things like this happening, but never to myself. This is a huge burden lifted; thinking of the expenses related to this during school was stressful.”
Syrja had brought in some pictures of his existing boiler to ask Christensen how to fix it. The instructor took one look, realized the poor condition it was in, and deemed it unusable.
“Etna Supply in Marquette had donated a new Burnham boiler to the HVAC/R program to be used in the lab,” Christensen said. “At the time, we really didn't have a practical place to install it in the lab. I felt that Travis' house would be a perfect candidate for it and provide a great real-world experience for students, helping a veteran and fellow classmate. We got permission to install it for him.”
Christensen secured permission to install the donated boiler in Syrja's home. All NMU HVAC/R students had the opportunity to participate in the project. Students were able to see for themselves the amount of labor it takes to upgrade a hot water heating system, along with how detail-oriented the process is.
“It's critical that the equipment gets installed properly, and functions reliably as well,” added Christensen.
Syrja expressed thanks to his fellow classmates, the HVAC/R program, and companies that donated their time and equipment.
“I am very thankful and appreciate what they have done,” he said. “Because of their donations, I now have heat back in my home. Boiler installation is a serious job. For NMU to help this much, just for one student, I feel overwhelmed and forever thankful.”
In addition to Etna's donation of the boiler, the project received support from Andy Shilt from Midwest Sales & Marketing in Hartland, Wis., Jon Gooding from J-Goods Plumbing & Heating in Negaunee, Cory Bushong from Prime Specialty Contracting in Marquette, and Fred Reider, Steve Skauge and Jeff Young from Sid Harvey Industries in Marquette, which transported the boiler from NMU's lab to Syrja's Negaunee home.