WEBVTT

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DAN: You
gonna make it work?

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Can't open it.

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It's like those toys
I get for my kids.

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I'm Daniel Burman, I go to
Red Rocks Community College,

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and I'm 39 years old.

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Let's make a motor.

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I served about a year and
a half in the Marine Corps.

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After getting out
of the Marine Corps,

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I was just waiting tables at
a restaurant down in Denver,

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just being a snowboard bum.

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But as time moved on,
I met my wife, decided

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to get a real estate license.

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I excelled and I actually hold
record for the most sales,

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most money made in a month.

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But I was just never fulfilled.

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You wired them correctly.

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There was no personal
satisfaction, no wow feeling.

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Life's too short not to enjoy.

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A friend of mine had actually
been in the solar industry,

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and got into that after taking
about two preparatory classes,

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decided to go, actually,
for their associate's degree

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they offer.

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Oh, my kid is
going to love this.

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PROGRAM COORDINATOR: What I want 
to do is make leads like we have here,

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and so we're just adding
on leads to this box.

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DAN: The
degree that I chose

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to go with was an
associate's degree in Applied

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Science for photovoltaics, which
is basically changing photons,

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which are the sun's
rays, into voltage,

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which is usable form of energy.

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MAN 1: That goes in there.

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DAN: That
is a positive lead.

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OK, gotcha.

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The classes there were hands on.

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A lot of the electrical classes
were really what intrigued me.

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If you're going to teach someone
a technical type of skill,

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I think that you need
hands-on training.

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So, actually, if you go
around the facility here,

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you go around the
campus, you can

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see a lot of the annexes,
the labs and all of that

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made possible by ATE and the
National Science Foundation.

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DAN'S BOSS: So what is ATE?

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PROGRAM COORDINATOR: Well, ATE is 
Advanced Technology Education,

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and it's funded by the
National Science Foundation.

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And they authorized
funds to be utilized

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for many advanced technology
programs, and for Red Rocks,

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it was approved for
Green Jobs Education.

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So we develop
programs around this

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to actually create classes and
courses in many areas, which

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directly went to
green jobs' training,

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as we have with Daniel here.

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DAN: Since
I've been at Red Rocks,

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I've seen what these
grants and what this has

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been able to do for the school.

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[FOLKSY MUSIC]

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PROGRAM COORDINATOR: This tracks-- it's
at perfect STC all day long.

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DAN: Certain
buildings are actually

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completely run by the solar
power that they're producing.

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And the students who
built these arrays

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are in their labs
and their classes.

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PROGRAM COORDINATOR: This also 
feeds the building next door,

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so these two buildings
are connected.

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DAN: And it's
been able to enhance

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the experience for any
student, including myself,

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where you can go
to a place and you

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can see different forms of
this type of renewable energy.

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And you're able to actually
go and play with it,

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and learn about it,
touch it, feel it.

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DAN'S MENTOR: Daniel had
the background.

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He had the knowledge.

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So yes, he was a first year
apprentice on the books,

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but with the education
that you guys gave him

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in the background, he was so
much more ahead of the game

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than the others.

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DAN: Since I've
been with Stellar Energy

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Contractors, I've been able to
use pretty much everything I've

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learned at Red Rocks.

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We started as a small
mom and pop shop.

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From there, we
decided, you know what?

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We're also a roofing company.

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Let's try to airseal
and insulation.

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These are classes I've
actually taken at Red Rocks,

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so we decided to put
our feet into it.

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DAN'S BOSS: We ended up adding
energy audits and airsealing,

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the weatherization steps
that he's been taught.

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And it seems that every
part of the building

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envelope that we touch,
Daniel has got experience in.

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DAN:
I've installed well

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over 200 solar systems
for individuals.

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Everything from grid tie to
off grid to hybrid systems.

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Using all the education
that I've actually

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gained at Red Rocks
Community College,

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I was able to completely
airseal and insulate my house,

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and I built a 4.6 kilowatt
solar system on my house

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and completely wired
and installed it myself.

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This house is actually what
we consider a net zero house.

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This house is actually producing
more power than it utilizes.

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And this system has saved
19,582 pounds of carbon that

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hasn't been put into the air.

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My kids are my life
along with my wife.

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I have two little boys, the
two best things I've ever

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made in my life and ever will.

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To come home every day and
know that you're doing good,

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and have your child
interested in what

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you do because you can actually
explain to them and show them

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is just wonderful feeling.

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You know what we should do?

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Make a little fire tonight.

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Oh.

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KID: Can we cook marshmallows?

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DAN: Would you
like to cook marshmallows?

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KID: Yeah.

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DAN: You're
doing something,

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in my opinion, that's truly
beneficial for people.

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DAN'S WIFE: What's important to
me is that Daniel's happy.

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He used to be in
sales and, you know,

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I didn't see that
happiness in him

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until he started
working in solar

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and I'm just so proud of him.

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And I'm happy that he's happy.

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That's what's important to us.

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DAN: I
love going to work.

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It's just an amazing feeling.

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To be 39 and be able to proudly
say I'm happy about what I do.

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As opposed to a lot of people,
they work in these jobs

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and they're miserable, and
they look at everything

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as a paycheck.

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I look at this as a career.

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This is where I want to be, this
is what truly makes me happy.

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It's an impressive feeling.

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I'm definitely grateful to
ATE and the National Science

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Foundation for allowing
people like myself

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to be able to change a career,
and at my age and my stage

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of life being able to give
me the tools that I'm going

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to need to become a success.