My hometown is famous in certain circles.
If you are a fan of college sports, and basketball in particular, you are no doubt familiar with the name.
I never was a fan of sports, however, so South Bend, IN meant something different to me. I grew up in the boondocks of southern Indiana, so far out that we didn’t even have TV or phones. This was 25 years ago, long before the advent of cell phones or satellite TV. I never watched sports because I never watched TV at all! My only exposure to the outside world, beyond grade school, were the monthly trips I would take to South Bend with my parents. Although there were a few stores nearby, South Bend was the closest place with the big-box stores where they wanted to shop. It wasn’t until after I moved to South Bend that I learned about the rich history of Notre Dame, both in terms of sports and being a cultural powerhouse for a century! On the advice of my mother, I looked into taking night classes in HVAC repair at the local South Bend learning annex. Although South Bend is well known for higher education, they have a host of learning resources for those of us who aren’t university material. The South Bend learning annex was a godsend for me, and allowed me to take my HVAC certification classes online.Once I had my certification it was easy for me to get a job with one of the many local contractors in South Bend, and the rest, as they say, is history.