Gargoyle Academy: Elevated & Exclusion Trade Training

Wildlife and pest professionals are increasingly expected to work from heights, navigating steep rooflines, understanding structural systems, and performing technical exclusions rather than quick patches.

Doing all of that safely, ethically, and profitably, has revealed a growing problem: The work has become more complex, but the training hasn’t kept pace.

Most existing training options are either overly theoretical, too narrowly focused (OSHA-only, rope-only, or construction-only), or fragmented across multiple industries. While the National Wildlife Control Operators Association (NWCOA) provides excellent wildlife-specific training, critical gaps remain in other areas. As a result, professionals are forced to piece together their education from multiple courses — an approach that creates knowledge gaps, consumes significant time and money, and ultimately limits the range of services a company can offer.

Gargoyle Academy was created to bring those skills together in one place, taught the way the work actually happens in the field.

Launching this spring at one of HY-C’s warehouses in St. Louis, Missouri, Gargoyle Academy will offer year-round, hands-on education for wildlife control, pest management, and related trades, from rope access and roof safety to advanced exclusion, fabrication, and structural restoration.

How Gargoyle Academy came to be

Jon Cischke and Carmela Gatto of Exclusion Masters, alongside Keith Markun of Elevated Tasks, are the minds behind Gargoyle Academy. But before the academy existed, there was Elevated Exclusions.

“It was a three-way love child of (Jon and Carmela’s) metal course and exclusions, and then my different heights classes,” Markun said of the three-day training program combining technical access, metal fabrication, and wildlife exclusion into a single, immersive course.

But as the program evolved, it became clear the demand went far beyond a single course.

The professionals responsible for protecting and maintaining homes — the modern-day gargoyles — were facing serious training gaps. In the pest and wildlife industry and beyond, many placed emphasis on credentials rather than true competency, leaving technicians underprepared for increasingly technical work.

Cischke, Gatto, and Markun wanted to take a different approach, one rooted in practicality, ethics, and real-world application.

“We had to make it,” Gatto said.

That realization became Gargoyle Academy.

Built for the work, not the classroom

Gargoyle Academy was intentionally designed to mirror the realities of field work, not simplify them. Several factors set Gargoyle Academy apart from other industry trainings:

• A permanent, warehouse-based training environment in St. Louis
• Full-scale mock structures designed to accommodate real-world installations
• An integrated approach combinating access, safety, and exclusion
• Instruction build around multiple right ways, not one rigid method

Because the skills taught at Gargoyle Academy span multiple trades, the training delivers long-term value beyond the pest and wildlife world — not just for individual technicians, but also for the companies that invest in them.

“Not only is it something that nobody else is teaching,” Markun said, “but if you wanted to get all the individual stuff that is being taught here, you'd have to go to 10 different places to learn from 10 different people — and you still wouldn't get the takeaway of everything that's in these courses.”

Meet the modern gargoyles

Traditionally, gargoyles were carved stone figures placed on buildings as guardians, protecting structures and the people inside them. Today’s gargoyles serve a similar role: Professionals tasked with preventing damage, mitigating risk, and safeguarding homes and businesses.

Gargoyle Academy was built for those modern guardians, especially:

• Wildlife control and pest management professionals
• Owners, managers, trainers, and technicians
• Adjacent trades such as roofing, holiday lighting, inspection, and restoration
• Both newer technicians and seasoned professionals

Beyond the pest and wildlife industry, Gargoyle Academy also applies to other professionals working at height, including:

• Building envelope and inspection trades
• Exterior maintenance and cleaning companies
• Seasonal and specialty installers (holiday lighting, vents, façade work)
• Arborists and restoration professionals

In short: If your job requires safe access and technical work at height, Gargoyle Academy was built with you in mind.