CVCC celebrates 'education that works'

June 20, 2026 | By David Delcore | Times Argus staff writer

This story was originally published by the Times Argus on June 18.

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BARRE — Their stories were similar, but not the same, and the five students who spoke during the Central Vermont Career Center’s year-ending awards ceremony probably had more than a little in common with the nearly 200 who didn’t.

Most used the word “struggled” when describing their educational experience before enrolling in the career center. Some recalled feeling “judged” and “embarrassed,” and all pointed to their acceptance in the career center as a pivotal moment — one that lit their fire for learning, built their confidence and self-esteem, and prepared them for diverse careers.

On a night when CVCC’s motto — “Education that works” — found its way into most of those speeches, and were literally the last words in one of them, Jody Emerson, director of the regional center, and superintendent of the autonomous district that runs it, said that was precisely the point.

Standing in at the podium on a makeshift stage in the crowded gymnasium at Spaulding High School, Emerson turned up the pressure on the students assembled before her.

“The future of Vermont rests on your shoulders,” she said. “Our community desperately needs you — our automotive technicians, carpenters, chefs, cosmetologists, electricians, emergency services personnel, filmmakers, graphic designers, nurses, plumbers, welders, and so much more.”

Emerson praised their integrity, their “commitment to community,” and their varied accomplishments.

“Students, you are the heart of this community,” she said. “You’ve faced challenges head-on, supported one another, and shown us all what’s possible. Tonight, we recognize your hard work, leadership, innovation, and perseverance. We celebrate the futures you are constructing in our community and beyond.”

In a graduation-like ceremony that wasn’t a graduation, Emerson assured students, who had mastered their crafts, there is work to do.

“We live in an ever-changing world, and it is not slowing down,” she said. “Use all that you have learned to build a future that works for you and for all of us.”

Message received, according to Izzy Dexter, a successful product of the center’s emergency services program said she knows what she wants to do. Dexter said she once viewed herself as a “troubled kid,” who wasn’t motivated by school.

What could have been a self-fulfilling prophecy, wasn’t according to Dexter, who said her experience at the career center had everything to do with that.

“It was the first place that didn’t judge me for where I had been, but instead looked at me and asked who I wanted to become,” Dexter said, noting the center allowed her to confirm her perceived passion in emergency medicine.

“Every time I learned how to pull someone out of a crisis, I was healing a piece of my own history,” she said. “My rough past didn’t make me a weaker student; it became my secret weapon. It gave me the empathy to look into the eyes of a hurting patient and truly understand their pain without judgment. The scars I carried allowed me to connect with people who felt just as lost as I once did, turning my oldest regrets into my greatest strengths.”

If that sounds like a success story, it was. And after a boatload of awards and scholarships were announced, Gavin Sickles and Victor Taft told two more.

Both worked “education that works” into their addresses, because according to Sickles, who had a hand in building a Habitat for Humanity home on Hill Street in Barre, and Taft, who helped with the wiring, it does.

Sickles, who completed the building trades program last year, and turned his attention to welding this year, said he learned marketable skills instead of struggling to stay focused on subject matter that just didn’t interest him.

“Say what you will about the people and here, the programs themselves help you find out who you really are,” he said, noting helping build that house will always be a point of pride.

Taft just capped his third year at the center, where he started in the exploratory program, decided to try his hand in the electrical program, and this year is picking up a paycheck from Tanner Electrical LLC as part of the center’s co-op program. He said his story wasn’t so different from others, and they all had reason to be proud.

“Every student here has spent hours of their lives now learning and gaining skills to wire homes, build homes, heat homes, save lives, create art from 1s and 0s, make movies, fix cars, create machines by harnessing electricity, bake cakes worthy of royalty, and create culinary marvels,” he said.

Taft also offered some parting advice, to students who got a jump on their futures: “Look back, revel, take a breath before going forward. Your life is in progress; you have already spent time working towards it.”

After the certificates recognizing students for successfully completing their programs were doled out in diploma-like fashion, two more of them — Zoe Duffy and Emma Bernes — stepped to the podium.

Both cosmetology students shared stories that were similar, but not the same, as those who spoke before them, and both heaped praise on the career center and the program that helped them learn and thrive.

“As I leave CVCC, I am not just leaving with an education,” Bernes said. “I am leaving with confidence. I am leaving with a purpose. I am leaving with a future that once felt uncertain but now feels full of possibility. CVCC gave me a second chance to believe in myself, and for that, I will always be grateful.”

The ceremony ended the way it began. Emerson was back at the podium, only this time she was there to announce the prestigious “student of the center” award.

This year’s winner — cosmetology student Nick Poulin — received a glowing endorsement from Emerson before Poulin’s name was revealed, provoking one final thunderous round of applause before the ceremony ended.