Design school scholarships are now available for the Bill Phair Design School Scholarship Program, established by the American Fire Sprinkler Association (AFSA). This program offers financial assistance to AFSA contractor members in Categories 1-3, helping to train fire sprinkler layout technicians within their design departments. Scholarships are available for both AFSA's Beginning and Intermediate Design Schools, providing valuable opportunities for professional development.

This program provides a limited number of scholarships to help employees attend AFSA’s Beginning and Intermediate Design Schools. Eligible AFSA members can nominate an employee to apply. Each scholarship covers registration fees and assists with travel expenses — including airfare, hotel, and meals — for one of AFSA’s 2025 design school sessions. Applications are submitted online and include questions for both the contractor and designer. The total value of each scholarship is $4,500.

An exciting addition to AFSA’s design school curriculum is the incorporation of AFSA’s new training lab. “AFSA’s new valve lab is invaluable for all kinds of training, including sprinkler system design,” said AFSA Director of Operations and Training Joshua McDonald, MSET, CFPS, CWBSP, WBITM. “Discussing water flow testing is one thing — our students actually perform and analyze it. NFPA 13’s obstruction diagrams come to life as participants witness actual spray patterns with and without obstructions. This dynamic facility is versatile and constantly evolving to meet our industry needs.”

AFSA’s Beginning Design School presents a comprehensive, practical approach to preparing fire sprinkler system drawings. This class is designed for trainees and entry-level technicians with at least six months of experience as well as those with experience in the sprinkler trade looking to make the transition to system layout.

Experienced layout technicians will find AFSA’s Intermediate Design School useful to understand the tools they utilize in-depth and gain a deeper knowledge of layout standpipe, fire pump, seismic protection, and the design requirements for general storage. This class is designed for competent trainees and technicians with at least one year of system layout experience. No prior Hydratec or Autodesk Revit experience is required. Students should be computer literate.

AFSA’s design school scholarships are only for contractor members in the Tier 1-3 categories. For more information and to apply, visit firesprinkler.org/designscholarship/. For any questions, email [email protected]. For more information on Beginning Design School, visit firesprinkler.org/design. For details on Intermediate Design School, visit firesprinkler.org/nextlevel.