Jerrad Porter, a Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC/R) journeyman in the refrigeration department at Clearwater Paper in Lewiston, will compete in the ServiceTitan HVAC 2024 National Championship Finals in West Palm Beach, Fla., in September.
Jarrad Porter
Porter has worked in Clearwater Paper’s Pulp and Paper Division since 2014.
Porter is one of 10 HVAC professionals from around the United States who advanced through two rounds of the ServiceTitan’s competition to make the finals. In this year’s first round, competitors took a five-minute online quiz testing their knowledge with trade specific questions. Competitors were limited to one entry per day and a running total of correct answers determined who would make it to the second round. Of the thousands of entries, 36 journeymen and 36 apprentices made the cut for their respective divisions.
The second round consisted of a custom at home challenge kit presented by Johnstone Supply. The kit was set up to test the skills used by tradesmen on a typical day in the field. Contestants were given a limited time to complete the project. Porter said he had to submit a video using the items from the kit to perform the trade task in a timed unedited video. Judges picked his submission from the 36 professionals as one of the top 10 for the finals.
The final round includes an all-expenses paid trip to the competition in West Palm Beach.
While most details of the final round have been kept confidential, Porter said the 10 professionals would compete simultaneously at separate workstations in a timed event.
“This will get down to the details and show off the contestants’ level of skill in their tradecraft. You don’t want to leave anything out, but I like challenges, and this will be fun for me.” Porter said.
Porter grew up on a ranch outside of Richfield in south central Idaho, an area between Sun Valley and Twin Falls. He lived there when he audited the HVAC/R technology program at Lewis Clark State College (LCSC) in Lewiston. While visiting he witnessed the Idaho SkillsUSA competition and knew that was where he wanted to study. He enrolled in the fall semester of 2006. During the fourth and final semester at LCSC he competed in the SkillsUSA HVAC/R competition and advanced to the national finals. He subsequently placed first in the SkillsUSA National Competition.
Following graduation, he decided to stay in the Lewiston area to raise his family.
” The longer you are in the trade, the less you can say I have never seen that before,” he said.
