Chase Bengel

Our youngest employee is Chase Bengel, Nick and Brandi’s son. Chase’s hours after school are mostly spent working in our sheet metal shop as well as performing other miscellaneous tasks such as checking in orders and putting away deliveries. He has hopes of one day owning ESI Heating and working on a consistent basis has helped him to learn the vast “lingo” of the heating & cooling world. Chase has chosen for his $250.00 donation to help the St. Patrick Athletic Association, specifically the St. Patrick Trap Team.

Chase is a freshman at St. Patrick High School in Portland and has been a member of the Trap Team for about 2 years. Trap has been offered as a sport at St. Patrick for just a couple of years now and if you’re not familiar with trap, here is a summary: Participants shoot a minimum of 2 rounds per week, each round consists of 25 shots, five shots at each of the five posts. An automatic machine will “launch” a flat clay target into the air and the athlete must hit the target or it doesn’t count. The students must supply their own gun and ammunition. Oakhill Gun Club in Lyons hosts the Portland Public and St. Patrick trap teams. To participate each student must purchase a punch card from the Oakhill Gun Club, costing $45 per card and has 10 punches. The team is coached by Mike Bozung, Craig Corbeil, and Troy Smith.

While everyone can compete in the State competition in June, St. Patrick has found success early on with a couple of kids qualifying for Nationals the past couple years. Interest in trap is slowly growing with team sizes increasing each year and is considered the safest sport in high school. The athletes must pass a strict safety test and wear safety glasses along with hearing protection. No one sits the bench; all kids participate as long as you show up and have good grades. As you can see this can be an expensive sport and the money donated by Chase will help to offset the expenses for the kids wanting to