Career center celebrates success

June 20, 2025  |  By David Delcore  |  Times Argus staff writer

Cosmetology I students applaud their classmates at the Central Vermont Career Center Awards Night and Celebration of Program Completers and Participants ceremony on June 18 at the Barre Auditorium. Photo by Jeb Wallace-Brodeur

BARRE — If you asked students who strode across the stage at the Barre Municipal Auditorium on Wednesday night how they spell “success,” it wouldn't have been at all surprising if the most common answer was: “C-V-C-C.”

Those four letters got a workout Wednesday night when the Central Vermont Career Center (CVCC) held its year-ending awards ceremony in central Vermont's most storied gymnasium.

It wasn't a capacity crowd at the building known locally as the "Aud,” but it was close, and that's saying something on a near 90-degree day, when live-streaming the ceremony from the air-conditioned comfort of your home was an option.

Residents from 18 area towns, served by six separate high schools, traveled to the Aud for the Wednesday evening ceremony. Some arrived more than an hour early, and most of the seats — bleachers included — were filled by the time students of the Barre-based center filed in.

The procession provoked an eruption of applause that never completely subsided and came in waves as students took their seats.

Some days removed from their high school graduations, others set to graduate on Saturday, and the rest a mix of rising juniors and seniors, all successfully completed one of CVCC's 16 programs.

Superintendent Jody Emerson set the tone for the ceremony, leaning into CVCC's motto, during an address that was as much a pitch for career technical education, as it was a nod to the center's latest crop of students.

“Tonight, we gather not only to celebrate achievement but to honor growth, grit, and the pride that defines CVCC,” Emerson said, adding: “At CVCC, 'Education that Works' is more than a motto; it’s a mindset. It means learning by doing. It means forging connections between the classroom and the real world. And it means preparing students not only with technical skills, but with the confidence, compassion, and resilience to lead and thrive.”

Mission accomplished again, according to Emerson, who said those served by the center had more than earned their front row seats.

“Our students have taken their learning beyond the classroom — into ambulances, kitchens, garages, new construction sites, homes, businesses, studios, and communities,” Emerson said. “They’ve proven that when education is hands-on, relevant, and deeply rooted in real-world skills, it doesn’t just open doors—it builds futures.”

Emerson's otherwise upbeat remarks were punctuated by a moment of silence for Benjamin “Benji” Beavin, who was on track to complete the Emergency Services 1 program offered at CVCC when he died unexpectedly in December. Beavin would have graduated from Montpelier High school last Friday and his name was among those read to loud applause when his program-mates at CVCC were being awarded their certificates of completion, later in the ceremony.

Emerson saluted students for their achievements, their families for the roles they played, the center's staff for their efforts, the community for its support, and the center's industry partners, who she said, serve as “a bridge between the classroom and the workforce.”

Those attending the ceremony were later told 18 of the center's students had already crossed that bridge as part of its Co-op program, collectively worked over 16,000 hours and made more than $307,000 this school year.

Owen Cheney, who was honored at the end of the ceremony as this year's “Outstanding Student of the Center” was on that list, so were Olivia Jerome and Caleb Durand, who spoke during the Wednesday ceremony.

Cheney put what the center taught him about plumbing and heating last year to work for Ward's Mechanical this year. Jerome, a product of the center's Building Trades program, spent the past several months working for H.P. Cummings Construction on a wide variety of projects.

The first of four student speakers, Jerome was undaunted by technical difficulties that briefly interrupted her address.

The microphone malfunction was quickly overcome, and Jerome continued her personal story — one during which she acknowledged, “learning was hard for me.”

Anxiety didn't help. Neither did dyslexia, nor what Jerome perceived as a lack of support she received in a traditional high school setting.

According to Jerome, enrolling in CVCC's Exploratory Technology program as a sophomore helped.

“It was hands-on, and for once, I felt like I was really starting to learn something,” she said. “I wasn’t just sitting at a desk — I was working with my hands, figuring things out in a way that made sense to me.”

Jerome described her experience in Building Trades as a confidence builder — one that prepared her to take those skills out into the field.

“I still face challenges, but I’m not that kid sitting alone in a back room anymore,” she said. “I’ve found purpose, pride, and a future I can believe in.”

The other three students speakers — Isobel Joy, Zoey Gallagher, and Durand — shared their own perspectives on the value of CVCC, in general, and to them personally.

Gallagher and Joy took turns. Both members of the center's “student leadership,” Gallagher and Joy enrolled in the Emergency Services 1 program this year.

Gallagher, described her one and only year at CVCC as “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” that moved her closer to achieving her career goals.

Already a certified EMT, Gallagher is enrolled in the paramedic program at the New England Institute of Technology.

Joy, who spent two years at CVCC spoke highly of the experience, as she readies to pursue a degree in criminology at Norwich University.

That is a bit of a course correction after spending a year largely focused on work in the emergency medical field, but for Joy the experience wasn't wasted — a fact she said shouldn't be lost on any of the center's students who successfully completed their programs.

“Without a doubt, I can tell you it will always be helpful to know how to write a résumé, change a tire, wire a switch, or cut your own hair,” she said.

Days after graduating from Harwood Union High School, Durand, the final student speaker, and the self-described “official mascot” of CVCC, said the three years he spent at the center turned him into a skilled employee and a better person.

“Some people would say I was a 'troubled student,' but it all turned around when I was accepted into the career center,” said Durand, who sampled the center's offerings as a sophomore, enrolled in building trades as a junior, and spent this year working for New School Builders — a high-end residential contracting company.

“I am grateful for the opportunity CVCC has given me, and am grateful that New School Builders took a chance on a high school kid,” he said, thanking his family for their unwavering support before volunteering to stop “yapping.”

This story was originally published in The Times Argus on June 19, 2025.