Sprinkler Age A Publication of the American Fire Sprinkler Association
Mac Beaton is AFSA’S 2025 Fire Sprinkler Advocate of the Year
It’s no secret that the trades suffer from a lack of manpower, and that need will only increase exponentially. The fire protection industry has felt pressure to find and recruit the next generation of workers. In a 2024 blog post, TV personality Mike Rowe, who promotes skilled trades, wrote that he was asked where the tradespeople were. His response? “I think they’re in the 8th grade. Have you looked there?”
One professional reaching that generation and putting action behind his words is Mac Beaton, director of career and technical education (CTE) for Henrico County, Va., Public Schools (HCPS). He has put programs in place that educate students about the trades and CTE, beginning even earlier than 8th grade—talking to elementary-school students about a career in the trades. Through those programs, he has also been able to share the message that sprinklers save lives and show the next generations that a career in the sprinkler industry can be rewarding. In recognition of his dedication to informing the next generation about the fire protection industry and educating the public about sprinklers, Beaton is AFSA’s 2025 Fire Sprinkler Advocate of the Year.
Leading by Example
Beaton’s pathway to a career began much like students of his day. “When I graduated from high school, I ranked second in my class. All I’d heard was to graduate and attend a four-year university. That was my ‘ticket to success’ in life,” he remembers. “Go to university, get a job, and that’s how you make it. The problem was that no one asked me if I wanted that and if I could afford that.”
Beaton notes that one of the best pieces of advice he ever received was from his mother. “She said, ‘Whatever you do in life, keep moving forward. Be the best you can be in what you do, and continue to learn,’ so that’s what I did.”
Beaton found the Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s naval electrical apprenticeship and says it was the smartest thing he ever did. “It taught me the trade and life skills—how to work 12-hour days seven days a week and get things done. You get out of it what you put into it,” he says.
When he finished the apprentice program, Beaton had many job opportunities but chose to attend Virginia Tech and put himself through its engineering program. Once he graduated, he secured a job as a plant engineer, but he couldn’t see himself in that role for the rest of his life. Something wasn’t quite right.
“I decided to make an appointment with the Virginia Tech Career Center, and it was the best decision,” he says. “I met with a counselor, and she said I was off-the-charts in mechanical skills and that engineering was the perfect pathway for me. I told her I wasn’t happy and asked what else she could suggest?”
The counselor was shocked but said Beaton scored high in religion and education. “Once I thought about it, I remembered always helping fellow students with their studies. A few months later, I walked into an electronics classroom and knew I was meant to be there. I haven’t worked a day in my life since.”
Beaton earned his Bachelor of Science in Education from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and his master’s degree in supervision and administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Beaton has spent the last 40 years in Henrico County schools as a teacher, education specialist, and, for the last 25 years, has served as director of its CTE. He loves to help students answer their “why.” “My job is to help my kids see all the opportunities and get them where they want to go. Students who complete a CTE program graduate with more than just a diploma. Many obtain a skill set, nationally recognized certification, or state license that prepares them for their career.”
After four decades of working with students with no signs of slowing down, what continues to drive Beaton? “When I was in school, I’d bring home straight As, and my mother would say, ‘That’s great, but you’ve only got one direction to go. We’re here, but what can we do next?’ I’ve taken that principle and used it as a guide for my career and my life. What can I do next?”
Enrolled, Enlisted, Employed
Beaton and the HCPS staff advocate that there are multiple paths to rewarding careers. “Our focus is on the ‘3E’s’—for all HCPS students to be enrolled, enlisted, and/or employed,” comments Beaton. “Historically, most school divisions will wait until their students are in high school to offer those career-based programs. But the trouble is, you’ve had 10 years prior trying to figure out what you want to do, and no one told you how to get there.”
The HCPS program starts in elementary school, where careers are discussed on a broad scale. Programs are then continuously built. At the middle-school level, students interested in CTE can explore more by taking electives. In high school, students can enroll in classes such as CAD 1 and CAD 2 and then move into the Advanced Career Education centers for their junior and senior years. “Students are finding out if they like a particular field and its career options. If they discover a trade they love, we are building the skill sets they need,” Beaton says.
The county also offers summer programs for middle and high school students to learn about careers at different intensity levels. “It’s all about students learning more about the trades and immersing them, so by their junior year of high school, they know more about what they want to do. We make a very concerted effort to talk about careers early on, so by the time you get to high school, you know where you want to land,” Beaton summarizes.
“Ask any high school student what the purpose of attending school is, and they say ‘to graduate.’ As a school system, we used to say we wanted students to graduate from college and be career-ready. However, how many kids start college and don’t finish? Or they graduate and then don’t know what they want to do or don’t like the career field they chose?” questions Beaton. “Now we’ve realized we need to start talking to students about their ‘why’ and have them explore all options—such as trade school or the military—much earlier. That gives graduating kids a pathway to get where they want and have a purpose.”
By the time CTE students graduate, they have earned their OSHA 10 card and work-based readiness certification. They’ve also acquired basic professional and life skills—how do they write a resume, call in sick for work, or confront a problem? “Our program equips students with credentials and life-ready experiences so they can take ownership in navigating their own career paths,” Beaton says.
It’s a Handshake, not a Handout
Beaton’s down-to-earth approach helps when talking to local businesses about partnerships. “I’ve found that human nature is to step back from an immediate ask. I’ve always tried to come out of the gate and say, ‘Here’s what I can do for you.’ People usually feel inclined to do something nice back if someone does something nice for them!” he laughs.
Beaton sees his job as an educator as going out into his community, discovering what’s happening, and sharing it with his students. “I find the people who can show students what careers are available and how they operate. I am always reaching out to build business partnerships for our kids.”
The HCPS CTE program includes a Business Advisory Committee. “Ours is very large, active, and different,” Beaton says. “Most people see an advisory board as a sounding board, but I wanted more interaction and feedback. I wanted a true partnership—ideas and suggestions, and not just my giving reports to a sounding board. We all work together.”
One such interaction involves bringing business partners to teach and interact with the CTE students. “We need that partnership because I need to give students the skill set employers require. Professionals who come into our programs are impressed with our kids. They’ve learned the required skills plus the soft skills of looking adults in the eye, shaking their hands, and engaging with them.”
Local businesses help Beaton host several community events throughout the year. One is the Life Ready Expo, where companies showcase their industries and careers within those industries. Typically featuring over 160 businesses, attendance has risen to nearly 5,000 during the hour-and-a-half event. “We invite students and their parents in sixth through twelfth grade to learn more about careers,” says Beaton. The governor showed up last year, so we know this event draws attention across the state.”
Attendees talk with employers about career opportunities and the total value of their pay and benefits. They learn about multiple ways to “learn and earn” when they take advantage of employer programs that pay employees to attend college and receive other training after high school. Attendees can also tour the Adult Education Center and talk with current seniors about their coursework and where they’re headed.
Another event, the Career Rodeo, gives the students time to shine. Wearing number bibs, much like pro rodeo contestants, students demonstrate their skills and knowledge to solve work-based challenges for potential employers. “You think about going into a formal interview and how stressful that can be,” notes Beaton. “In this format, students are much more at ease and confident talking about something they love.”
Taking place in a big event hall with everything from cosmetology to a mock trial to an auto body shop, employers interact with students and write down the bib number of students’ resumes they’d like to view. CTE staff then work to set up any interviews between business partners and students, potentially leading to full-time employment.
The Career Mega Sale offers the opportunity to “shop” from 50 businesses to find the career with the perfect fit. Participating companies are looking to fill positions from the office to the field and educate students on those positions. Attendees meet hiring representatives from dozens of companies; some are even hired on the spot.
The final event to celebrate the end of the school year is the Letter of Intent Signing Day. This event celebrates students entering the workforce after high school graduation and has become an example of what is great about a CTE education.
Since the first signing day, HCPS has been contacted by school representatives from 49 states and several provinces in Canada about replicating the event. Beaton has been interviewed by local news organizations and many national news outlets, such as NBC’s “Today” show, Fox News, and CNN’s “Headline News.” He has also had radio, print, and internet-based interviews about signing day. The attention has put HCPS’ CTE programs under a national spotlight.
Mac has been recognized with various awards for his progressive approach to workforce development and was recently honored as an ICON in Education Design Award recipient. He has also received the Virginia Teacher of the Year Award and two National Association of Counties (NACO) Awards for the Life Ready Expo and Career Rodeo.
“We always have something going on,” notes Beaton. “We’ve been so fortunate that the county has embraced our actions. Our businesses and government realize that if kids obtain jobs and stay local, it helps everyone. That’s how you keep your county growing and thriving.”
Jeff Lewis, vice president of technical workforce development with VSC Fire & Security in Richmond, Va., and second vice president of the Virginia Chapter, nominated Beaton for this award. “Mac has been a tremendous partner, and that’s his whole goal—to build partnerships. He’s gone far beyond the initial partnership, and our chapter has responded in kind. Mac is a true visionary.”
CHAPTER CONNECTION
Beaton connected with the AFSA Virginia Chapter in 2022 when he attended a career fair that members hosted at one of the local hotels. “I attended the event with some of my colleagues and students,” he remembers. The chapter had a great set-up with about 25 different vendors with neat stuff to show, but only had about 20 students show up.”
Shortly thereafter, Bob Beckwith, co-owner of AFSA Contractor Member Cavalier Fire Protection in Dumfries, Va., talked about the fire protection industry and careers on an episode of Henrico CTE Now, a podcast started by Henrico CTE. The show began airing in 2018 and was one of the first of its kind. Now in its seventh season, the podcast featured Beaton as its first guest and showcases students, careers, industries, programs, events, and business partners. It’s been a successful public education effort with over 140 countries listening.
“Mac is a unique individual with whom the Virginia Chapter has developed an ongoing private-public partnership and lifelong friendships. The experience working with him and Henrico County Public Schools on the podcast, career fairs, Regency Mall tenant fit-up, fire sprinkler lab, fire sprinkler curriculum, and installation of fire sprinklers in a single-family home has been inspiring,” says Beckwith, who currently serves as president of the Virginia Chapter. “Mac is a deep thinker and problem solver extraordinaire when it comes to exposing his CTE students to new career opportunities. He doesn’t just think outside the box; his thought process is often outside the universe to accomplish a mission.”
Beaton realized chapter members wanted to get in front of students but didn’t know how. Beaton’s first suggestion was that members participate in the Regency Mall project. “Kids need to see the inner workings of something, take it apart, and explore it. That’s the way kids learn. The only thing these kids knew about sprinklers was not to hang their clothes on them in a hotel room. They were a mystery they weren’t supposed to touch.”
The project entailed industry partners, CTE students, and CTE instructors working together to renovate 48,000 ft2 of underutilized space at Regency Mall, transforming it into an HCPS Adult Education Center. Completed in a year and at a third of the original projected cost, the Regency renovation was the first of its kind in the country and demonstrated the effectiveness of industry-school partnerships in helping more students enter the trades upon graduation. The adult education center allows adults to pursue GED preparation, English Language Acquisition (ELA) classes, and career-oriented certification programs. It aims to make adult education more accessible and attractive by offering a range of programs in a familiar, mall-based setting.
For the sprinkler portion of the renovation, 261 sprinklers had to be moved. Chapter members banded together to secure donated materials from different companies. “It was a great opportunity to talk to the kids about sprinkler systems and let them see and understand them,” says Lewis.“We definitely saw a change in the mindset of the kids once the system made sense to them.”
Students working on the project saw the drain down of the system and how to replace the sprinklers, and some worked with CAD students to lay them out. “Kids saw things they’d never seen before,” remembers Beaton. “They were engaged! Having the project done was great, but what the kids got out of it was most important. Relationships drive these kids nowadays. They really enjoyed directly interacting with the crew and learning what they do.”
Once the mall renovation was complete, Beaton asked the chapter to create and maintain a “storefront.” Each store space in the center features an industry or career field. The Virginia Chapter has outfitted its space to showcase different careers, including pipe fitter, designer, inspector, and jobs. Posters, brochures, and videos are available to view. Contact information is provided for those wanting more details about the trade or job.
“It’s an ongoing career fair for adults,” notes Beaton. “Once the mall space was complete, we moved the Virginia Chapter’s career fair to this location, and over 200 kids attended.”
Last summer, Beaton partnered with the chapter to promote residential sprinklers. Through the Henrico County VoTech Education Foundation’s House Building Project, students in carpentry, electricity, drafting, masonry, and HVAC programs apply what they learn in the classroom in a real-life setting by building a house. These homes are built by rising high school sophomores. Funds derived from the sale of the homes are used to ensure the continuation of the project and other associated programs. This past summer, students completed their 20th home build, and Beaton was able to have sprinkler fitting students join in and install a residential system in the home.
“We were at the perfect point to put a residential system in the house,” remembers Beaton. “We’re taking kids from zero knowledge to having them completely install a system.”
Beaton notes that most contractors are leery of installing these types of systems, and including one in the project helped dispel the myths. “As we continue building on our business partnerships, we’ve now got home builders asking about the systems. We can show it’s not a huge spend, and there aren’t the problems they think they might encounter.”
Beaton has also involved local fire officials with the residential installation, and they’re enthusiastic about the addition. County management and building inspection departments are also invested. “From the fire service perspective, we are so fortunate that we have someone from the education side as an advocate for safety, specifically, the need and benefits of a sprinkler system in a residential setting,” says Henry Rosenbaum, retired fire marshal for Henrico County, Division of Fire. “Mac pushed forward on this after seeing the benefit. He had some hurdles, but never gave up and kept seeing the value in it.”
“Mac has become a major advocate for our trade in the county and nationwide. In each of these projects, the goal has been to work with students to close the awareness gap about our industry,” comments Lewis. “We have been held up as an example of how a building department, school system, and trade association can work together for students and a better community. If students can install a home fire sprinkler system, why can’t professional builders?”
Another project that brought together the industry and school district was the build-out of the second floor of the Advanced Career Education Center at Hermitage, where students from the CTE programs work side-by-side with local skilled trades professionals. “This transformation was driven by demand. With the urgent need for a health care and trades workforce, the build-out will help us get more students credentialed and experienced in both career paths,” says Beaton. “When we constructed this center, we purposefully left this space unfinished to provide trades students with the experience of working on a building site.”
Beaton worked with the chapter to bring in donations ranging from sprinklers to piping and risers to assemble a working wet sprinkler lab. The fire sprinkler lab has active alarm, dry, preaction, and deluge valves for the students to use in training exercises during the semester. It also has a glass-walled separate wet room with a large drain for the students to activate different types of fire sprinkler.
Another benefit for the industry is that the Henrico County Fire Department will be able to utilize the lab to train its firefighters on the different types of systems. “This partnership with Mac and the Virginia Chapter members has brought so much to the table that we [the fire service] wouldn’t have been able to do it on our own or Mac on his own,” comments Rosenbaum. “In Henrico, we like to say that we love to have a relationship where you have the public and private entities involved to make a better product or service, and this is one great example.”
In addition, HCPS approved and implemented a sprinkler curriculum that started last semester with four students. Seventeen students are signed up for the 2025-26 school year. The new HCPS fire sprinkler program utilizes the National Center for Construction and Education & Research (NCCER) sprinkler fitting training books for instruction.
“It’s been a perfect storm for everything to come together,” comments Beaton. “There’s so much passion within AFSA and its chapters for the industry. We’re asking all these companies to help us, and they are jumping at the chance. Both of us [Henrico County Public Schools and Virginia Chapter contractor members] have gotten far more out of this partnership than we ever thought possible”
Lewis agrees. “Our industry has a big heart and is full of really good people willing to give. I think that has attracted Mac. By working together to create this lab, the county has also become financially invested in our success. Our work and ideas are also expanding to other chapters, and we’re proud that it started right here,” he says.
Chapter members and Beaton shared their success with industry members at AFSA42: Convention, Exhibition, and Apprentice Competition, held in September 2023 in Orlando, Fla. Their seminar was well attended and popular among attendees.
“Mac is an amazing and dedicated educator whose commitment to his students is unsurpassed and reaches beyond the borders of his community,” comments AFSA President Bob Caputo, CFPS. “The options provided to students and the encouragement they receive are a benefit to construction trades, but, more importantly, are a benefit to the students and their families. This program is so impressive that it’s been imitated by others outside of Virginia. It is a tribute to the vision Mac and his team have introduced to ensure the success of their students and their community.”
Well-Deserved Honor
AFSA established the Fire Sprinkler Advocate of the Year Award to honor individuals not directly involved in the fire sprinkler industry whose efforts have significantly advanced the fire protection industry and automatic fire sprinklers. Each year, AFSA’s Legislative Committee selects a recipient from a pool of nominations. Their nomination is then approved by the AFSA Board of Directors. Beaton will receive the award during the General Session at AFSA44: Convention, Exhibition, and National Apprentice Competition in Washington, D.C.
“I’m so excited Mac is getting this award,” says Lewis. “Mac has kept his word about doing everything he can to promote our industry as a place where students will want to come to work.”
“We are very proud and honored that our visionary Career and Technical Education program leader, Mac Beaton, is being recognized yet again, and deservedly so,” said Dr. Amy Cashwell, Superintendent of Henrico County Public Schools. “His foresight of the need to train students in fire sprinkler installation is opening new doors for them into another in-demand career. Our students have already installed sprinklers in commercial and residential projects, which led to the implementation of a first-of-its-kind educational fire sprinkler lab and program that will double its first-year enrollment this new school year.”
“Mac exemplifies a true passion for what he’s doing,” comments Jason Gill, operations manager, Crews & Gregory Fire Sprinklers, Inc., and a director of the AFSA Virginia Chapter. “Though the fire sprinkler industry is just one of the trades he works to give kids a head start in, Mac’s given kids a chance to see our industry in a way we haven’t been able to accomplish quite the same as an industry alone.”
He continues, “The project Mac started as a local county program has inspired others nationwide to partner up, whether it’s schools partnering with local industry leaders or vice versa. Mac is one of us. His reinvestment in the trades is changing the game. He’s always eager to help, not just by delegating but also by getting involved. With Mac, there are no problems, just opportunities.”
Beaton shies away from the accolades but is eager to share his appreciation for the members of this industry. “From the first time I went to AFSA convention as an educator, I felt so welcomed inside a trade. There’s not a nicer group to have done this with.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: Do you know someone who should be nominated for AFSA’s Fire Sprinkler Advocate of the Year award? AFSA is proud to recognize those individuals who have given extraordinary support to furthering the advancement and awareness of sprinklers and the fire protection industry. All three of AFSA’s annual awards accept nominations year-round at firesprinkler.org/awards. (Member login required.)