Class Act: Ernie Sheets loves seeing students nail down fulfilling careers

The first students to complete the Construction Technology Program that Ernie Sheets launched a couple years ago at Amarillo College will cross the stage at Spring Commencement, and their mentor’s emotions will be running high.

“Sometimes I get a little teary-eyed just thinking about it,” said Sheets, who at AC coordinates construction technology and additionally serves as chairman for all the manufacturing programs. “Those students have become things they didn’t realize they could be,” – carpenters, cabinet makers, a plumber, and more.

“This first cohort of graduates is really special,” he said, “and nothing makes me prouder than seeing my students find their calling and better their lives.”

Sheets knows all about guiding learners to successful careers in a wide range of construction technology disciplines. Before he joined AC, he spent more than 10 years with Canyon ISD, where he established and oversaw the Career Technology Academy, a place where students throughout the district are introduced to possibilities that span the construction-trades landscape.

Admittedly, Sheets didn’t much entertain notions of student success at the outset of his career. That’s because the Canyon native, who parlayed an engineering technology degree into a couple rewarding decades in corporate construction and manufacturing, never actually set out to become an educator.

Yet when circumstances wrought by the economic downturn of 2007-2009 led him to leave industry and enter the teaching ranks, he very quickly became unabashedly hooked on the profession – and he’s never looked back.

“No way I ever thought I would teach, and I even resisted it for a while,” said Sheets, “but when I finally accepted a job with the Canyon School District, I found out the rewards of the job are just totally overwhelming.”

It happened like this: Sheets, while still pursuing his degree at West Texas A&M University, was already employed at Hallmark Builders, a producer of steel buildings, where he learned how to bid and compete for largescale commercial jobs. That job was solid, but after completing his degree he heard about a fledgling local outfit that had begun producing outdoor recreational equipment, and he was smitten. He made the switch, and his first office at Backyard Adventures literally consisted of a table and chair in a hallway.

Sheets would spend 16 years at Backyard Adventures, where he steadily moved up through the ranks. He became an expert draftsman and did an enormous amount of the construction work; he brought in new technology like steel stamping; he bid projects and spearheaded expansion; he was elevated to vice president; and by 2009, when new investors chose to relocate the business to Kansas, his title was general manager.

“I could have moved and stayed with them, but I decided Kansas wasn’t for me,” Sheets said. “Texas is my home, and the Panhandle is where all my family is.”

Sheets was idle for only a short time before folks he knew with the Canyon School District invited him to join the faculty there and teach woodworking-type classes at Randall High School. Initially, he politely yet emphatically declined.

“I basically told them I wasn’t interested at all,” he said, “but after about three months, well, I needed a job and decided to give the school a shot. The thing is, it turned out to be a lot more than just woodworking; I found it was architecture and pre-engineering and woodshop and more that kids needed to learn, and that started me on a path of seeing what students were not getting exposed to in school, and what the possibilities were for education in the construction industry.

“So, I took what used to be woodworking and converted that into construction technology,” said Sheets, who ultimately established the Career Technology Academy (CTA). “It became my heartfelt motivation to take students who want to enter the construction trades and work with their hands, but who are not sure in exactly what capacity, and help them experience different things that lead them to the most satisfying careers possible,” he said.

The CTA was a success, and Sheets might still be at its helm but for a chance encounter while accompanying his daughter, a high school senior, to an introductory event at Amarillo College called Success 360. That’s where he met David Hall, who then was associate dean (he’s now the dean) of technical education for AC.

Hall invited Sheets to serve in an advisory capacity on the Business Leadership Council (BLC) that was engaged in establishing a degree in construction technology at AC, and Sheets agreed. Unfortunately, the pandemic hindered the group’s efforts, especially its quest to land a qualified educator to design, administer and teach the new curriculum.

Then one day, after a bit of soul searching and conversing with his wife, Sheets called Hall and basically suggested, “what about me?” That deal was sealed about two and a half years ago.

“I’ve tried to create an environment on our East Campus that is encouraging for students whether they’re just out of high school or older, non-traditional students, where they can develop skills that are relevant to the industries and employers who are knocking on our doors looking for employees right now,” Sheets said.

“At our Manufacturing Education Center, we offer a variety of career possibilities, like welding, construction, machining, HVAC, and advanced manufacturing, and there’s a real need for technically educated individuals who can go right to work and start producing quickly. The partnerships were seeing with the BLC’s that support our programs continue to grow, and we’re seeing positive results that are helping get our students internships and co-op opportunities.”

In Sheets’s sphere of construction technology, everything is not only hands-on, it’s all hands on deck; his students recently collaborated on the construction of six tiny homes, from floor to roof, inclusive of plumbing, electrical wiring, and HVAC, giving all his charges a taste of every facet of the undertaking.

He also encourages his students to enter high-level contests, and several have achieved competitive success. This school year alone, a team of four AC construction students won 2nd place at the State SkillsUSA competition, and two high-achieving students were selected to participate in the SkillsUSA Texas Ambassador Fellowship Program.

“I am extremely proud of our ambassadors and all our AC students who represented AC at the SkillsUSA competition,” Sheets said. “I’m confident they will continue to find success moving forward. My passion, that I developed going from the private sector to education, is to take students through a set of experiences that lead them to good-paying, satisfying careers.”

Ernie and his wife, Cindy, have raised three kids. When Ernie’s not remodeling his home – it’s his hobby – he enjoys a bit of fishing. But leisure is not his forte; he has for several years been a professional home inspector for the state of Texas. And he has operated his own construction company for years, having built a number of commercial projects around the Panhandle.

“When you’re in the trades and you look back on a project that you’ve been a part of, the satisfaction of standing back and looking at what has been completed is really unique,” Sheets said. You’re getting to do something with your hands that not everybody can do, something that you can stand back and look at with pride.

“I’ve liked that aspect of it ever since I was a kid and got to work on projects around the house with my dad and my grandad,” he said. “That’s when it just kind of became natural for me to always want to build something.”