The Catawba Valley Furniture Academy, a public/private partnership, between Catawba Valley Community College and major western N.C. furniture manufacturers, recently celebrated another successful group of graduates in the Sewing and Manual Cutting modules.
Students who completed the Sewing module include Boau Yang and Melinda Vang; Nou Yang, Angelica Francisco, May Lor and Kathy Lail. Angie Leatherman and Cherl(sic) Honeycutt were their instructors.
Bonita Hawkins completed the Manual Cutting module. Her instructors were Sherry Harrill and Beverly Lingerfelt.
Numerous skilled craftsmen/women in the furniture industry are retiring or close to retiring. The unique training academy prepares a future workforce for immediate employment opportunities upon successful completion of the program. Training is conducted in the evenings and is taught by skilled artisans employed by our local furniture manufacturers.
Founding partners who assisted with the curriculum design, instructional support of the program and donations of equipment, materials, and scholarships include Century Furniture, LEE Industries, Lexington Home Brands, Sherrill Furniture, and Vanguard Furniture.
Additional supporting partners include American Home Furnishings Alliance, Atlantic Packaging, Autoquip Corporation, Bassett Furniture, CR Laine, Dimension Wood Products, DUO-Fast, Ethan Allen, Fairfield Chair, Fairgrove Furniture, Geiger International, Gerber Technology, Harris Handling , Haworth Health Environments, HBF Textiles, HSM Solutions, Heico Fasteners, Heritage Home Group, Image Industries, Leggett & Platt, NC Works Career Center Catawba, Precedent, Snyder Paper, TB Arhaus, TCS Designs Inc., Thomasville-Drexel, United Sewing and Wesley Hall, Inc.
For more information about enrolling in the next class, contactLori Price with CVCC’s Business & Industry Services, 828-327-7000, ext. 4284, lprice@cvcc.edu.