The RV Technical Institute attended a Forest River Owner’s Group rally at the Elkhart, Indiana, County Fairgrounds. The rally had around 800 attendees from the owner’s group, which also included suppliers, Forest River employees and local support groups. Even some school counselors who were interested in implementing RVTI’s training into their schools attended.
According to Tracy Anglemeyer, RVTI’s director of recruitment, their participation was part of the institute’s ongoing Year of Recruitment initiative, which aims to recruit and train 1,000 new technicians from outside the RV industry by the end of the year.
“Our outreach efforts at the rally came back to us tenfold,” said Anglemeyer. “The Forest River Owner’s Group understood the need for more technicians in the industry, and they were willing to help us. All the different segments of the industry who were at the rally, such as the owners, suppliers, and Forest River support groups, came forward wanting to help. Everyone knew someone else who could somehow benefit from our program.”
The weeklong event also featured four seminars hosted by Bill Stewart, RV Technical Institute’s director of education. One focused on plumbing, another covered RV electrical systems and the other two addressed general RV basics. RVTI’s Executive Director Curt Hemmeler, also spoke at a rally dinner on Wednesday night, providing a quick snapshot of RVTI’s recent work, including the graduation of an all-female RV technician class and ongoing technician recruitment initiatives.
