Meet the Faculty

Adam Johns

My 10-plus years of work in the trades has made me a bit of a workhorse who strives in a constantly shifting and fast-paced environment. This, as many teachers would agree, is exactly the environment we work in every day. I believe in giving back to our community. For the last three years, our classes participate in a variety of building projects for our community. We have built an obstacle for the Cancer Society’s Git’Er Done Mud Run, which took place at Wilderness Tours. We’ve done picnic tables for the City of Pembroke, 30-plus feet of dock for the rowing club, rebuilt the benches for our waterfront boardwalk and completed our first timber frame project (an 8’ x 10’ pavilion) for Little Lakes Park in Beachburg. I also belong to the Renfrew County Home Builders Association, where local contractors and business owners meet to discuss the industry. In the future, I’d very much like to create projects that can continue to help our local communities, but in bigger and better ways.

I believe the most important thing that faculty can pass on to our students is to stay safe while working in the industry, and to always make sure to do the job right the first time. Completely avoidable workplace injuries happen all too often in the trades. We’re working very hard to teach our students how to identify dangerous situations and how to handle those situations on the job site. We train our students to take pride in their work and do our best to show them the advantages of creating something that will not only look fantastic, but will hold up to the test of time.