Impact Report - April 2026
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
Students use custom formwork to build concrete picnic tables and refine their finishing techniques.
There are months where you plant seeds. And there are months where you watch them grow. April was the second kind. Like the growing seed in the Gospel of Mark 4, meaningful growth rarely happens all at once. It comes through steady work, daily discipline, and consistent investment long before the results are visible. In April, many of those efforts started bearing fruit.
Concrete Level 1 didn't just launch — it delivered. The Electrical program kicked off. Two graduates walked out of class and straight into a paying job. A lease deed got registered. A campaign got fully funded. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, 23 people showed up every single day and kept building — literally and figuratively — something worth being part of.
This is what momentum looks like at Extollo.
A Perfect Score and a Paying Job
Four hand-selected graduates took on the relaunched Concrete Level 1 course — and they came ready. Theophile, Harry, Phelineau, and Junior all finished with Moyennes in the 8s and 9s. Harry Pierre, who also serves as a Masonry Assistant Trainer, earned a Moyenne 9 and a perfect practical score. That kind of excellence doesn't happen by accident. It's the result of discipline, preparation, and a genuine commitment to doing the work right.
But here's the part that really matters: Phelineau and Junior didn't even make it home before opportunity came knocking. A school in Ouanaminthe hired them immediately after graduation to pour a concrete slab. No gap. No waiting. Trained on a Tuesday, employed by the weekend.
That's the Extollo mission — train people with excellence, put them to work, and let every completed project build the credibility that brings the next one. We are incredibly proud of them both.
The course itself went deep. Students didn't just mix concrete — they built individual 4' x 4' slabs from scratch, executed the pouring and finishing of tilt-up panels alongside the construction crew, and fabricated concrete benches. Real skills on real projects. This is what responsibility looks like in a classroom: not just learning theory, but owning the outcome.
Building the People Who Build the Programs
If April had a theme, it was this: Extollo is no longer dependent on any single person to keep the programs running. And that's a genuinely big deal.
Dan Schulze arrived to launch Electrical Level 1 on April 27 — but his primary mission this session isn't just teaching electrical skills. It's developing Vanessa and Jeremy as independent instructors, capable of leading the program on their own this summer for the Youth Transition Program. That's what initiative looks like at the leadership level: investing in people's capacity, not just their output.
Jeremy is no rookie — he's completed three Level 1 programs with Extollo across Electrical, Welding, and Metal Fabrication. He's ready. Vanessa has been flourishing as Lead Trainer in Metal Fabrication. Together, they're being handed the keys.
Meanwhile, Theophile, Michelet, and Jeremy are now formally identified as the next generation of lead instructors across Concrete, Automotive, and Electrical respectively. The pipeline is full and flowing. And in the classroom, the co-instruction partnership between Vladimyr and Yves has become a model worth replicating — two skilled educators who created something genuinely excellent together. Teamwork, personified.
Construction That Serves the Community
At Extollo Partner, HHA, Guest House #3 hit 95% completion this month, and the team transitioned from the old visitor house into the freshly refurbished guest houses — which were promptly put to use hosting expat volunteers. Security wall panel production continued, picnic tables entered production, and short 4-ft panels started rolling off the forms.
But one of the most exciting projects taking shape is the Kay Anj Burn Pit — a real, community-serving design-and-build project that will serve as a live practicum for recent graduates Theophile, Harry, and Kesnel. Masonry skills plus concrete skills, applied to a project that improves daily life for the Kay Anj community.
The fleet kept pace too — new trailer hitches, dump truck batteries, a repaired ATV carburetor, hour meters mounted on equipment for better maintenance tracking. It's the unglamorous work that makes everything else possible, and the team does it with consistency.
Champin is Coming Alive
The Champin property had a milestone month. The notarized deed of lease was officially registered at the Tax Office — the result of many months of patient, persistent work (a big thanks to Junior for seeing it through). Extollo is now one survey away from final ownership documentation.
Living Water International's field inspector completed a site visit to assess the feasibility of drilling a well and installing a pump. That report is coming. The Starlink unit that had been stuck at a DHL port was finally retrieved and deployed on site. And three containers carrying a prefabricated steel building structure shipped from China in mid-April, expected to arrive by mid-May.
Champin becoming a functional campus isn't a distant dream anymore, it's a scheduled reality.
A Campaign Fully Funded
The Kitchen Container Campaign is done — and it's fully funded, including shipping and customs. Thank you to everyone who gave to make this a reality. The Kitchen Container is due to ship by the end of the month! Take a peek at a quick tour below!
The new Extollo Furniture Catalog launched in April as well, reaching the expat market with a dedicated web page, galleries, and an inquiry form. Products built by Extollo students and staff, available for real customers to buy. Revenue through training. That's the mission in motion.
The Honest Note
Growth is good. It's also demanding. Every department at Extollo — trade school, construction, logistics, administration, and fundraising — is accelerating simultaneously. That's not a complaint; it's what success looks like in its early stages. But it requires the team to be as disciplined about systems and communication as they are about output.
The team is leaning in. Every morning starts with a 15-minute session — prayer, character development, personal wellness — and this month a new practice was added: a word or topic drawn at random, always tied to themes of teamwork, ownership, excellence, or care. One of those sessions led organically to a team-wide collection for a former Bercy employee in need. Every staff member contributed. Nobody asked twice. That's the kind of culture that no org chart can mandate — it has to be built, day by day, by people who actually believe in each other.
Be Part of What's Next
May is going to be full. The Electrical class finishes. The burn pit practicum begins. The steel building containers arrive from China. The well project at Champin moves forward. And a lot of people are going to show up and do the work — because that's who they are.
You can be part of that. Share Extollo's story with someone who needs to hear it. Follow along on social media. And if you want to be one of the steady, faithful foundations this work is built on, join the Extollo Crew.
Thank you for being in this with us.
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