Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.  – (Margaret Mead) Would you : raise at least $500, take a day off of work, do some free construction work (which is also a new experience for you) on the home of a complete...Read More

John Hodges, carpentry teacher at CVCEC, was awarded a Certificate of Recognition at this year’s Gala Reconnaissance du Haut-Saint-Laurent. Community has always been a big part of John’s teaching inside and outside the classroom. John has helped build book houses for each municipality in the Haut-Saint-Laurent and he is part of the Habitat for Humanity...Read More

The inside of the home is getting touch-ups, fixtures, paint and everything else needed to have the house ready for Stacey and her family to come and live in this summer. The outside however… needs lots of work. Who you going to call? The Landscaping department to the rescue! Students and staff get to work...Read More

It’s not so many years ago that carpentry was an almost exclusively a male dominated trade. Women that happened to be on construction sites were generally visitors or not working directly in the trades but these days the construction trades have a new look. Although construction sites are still predominantly male, it’s not that unusual...Read More

Many students have graduated from the Carpentry program over the years, but it is always a great pleasure to hear about the successes of any one of those grads. Recently we were happy to see Geordie Hottot return to the Centre to prepare for his examinations to become a Journeyman Carpenter. This means that he...Read More

One definition of “polymath” is – a person of wide ranging knowledge or learning. The carpenter is just such a person. We are inclined to picture the carpenter with hammer or saw in hand gleefully cutting or nailing lumber while framing a new house, but his or her skill set is much larger than that....Read More

Get a sneak peek inside of the House! The honourable member of the Canadian Parliament, Anne Minh-Thu Quach (Salaberry-Suroit), came to CVCEC and the Our House site to visit the installations, meet students and staff and learn about some of the innovative projects that are happening in our Centre. Take a look at this edition...Read More

Believe it, TODAY on April 6th 2017 – we just received word that the 2nd FAMILY for the OUR HOUSE project is still out there!!! It can be you, or a family who you know. Don’t take it for granted that too many people are applying, we have some, but as of this very second,...Read More

In February, CVCEC entered the Regional Skills Olympics. Two carpentry students and two teachers participated in the event. Training the students and bringing them to the competition was a great learning opportunity. I sat on the organizational board of experts to design the tasks to be accomplished at the competition. On that same board was,...Read More

One of our four Carpentry groups just finished the floor framing module! This is the first of the three framing modules. It is followed by wall framing and roof framing. It is during this period that students learn about the techniques needed to build the structure of a house. Many students dream of building their...Read More