Most college students hand in their work to a professor. Students from Willowbank in Niagara-on-the-Lake installed theirs at an 18th-century fortress in the Maritimes last week.
Parks Canada in Cape Breton, N.S., signed a three-year agreement with Willowbank School of Restoration Arts, Algonquin College and Holland College to involve students in the restoration of the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic Site.
Alanna Wilson was one of six students from Willowbank who travelled to the historic site to install hand-built shutters she helped craft back in NOTL, putting into practice skills she learned through the private career college’s heritage conservation diploma, the only program it offers.
“I’m so thrilled that I got to be a part of it,” said Wilson, 31. She enrolled last year and is graduating in 2027.
“How many students can say that they’ve already done, you know, some work on and for a national historic site? It’s a very special and unique opportunity,” she said.
“Our whole class was so excited when we found out.”
The agreement, signed last June, has so far had students focused on crafting shutters for the 18th-century fortress after a review of blueprints and meeting with Parks Canada’s lead conservator, ahead of their installation this month.
Installation of the shutters began on the afternoon of June 9, after a morning spent touring the site with Parks Canada staff and carpenters. It was done by Tuesday afternoon.
Wilson said it was special not only to build the shutters using traditional methods alongside modern tools, but to see their work installed on a national historic site visited by millions — knowing it would become part of the building’s story.
“It’s something that not everybody gets to do,” she said.
Willowbank’s executive director, Katie Houghton, said the experience highlights the program’s hands-on, one-of-a-kind approach, where “students get an introduction to everything that fits within the heritage landscape.”
“It’s just such a wonderful opportunity for students to really apply their learning at a national historic site,” she added. “It really allows the whole experience to be brought to life.”
Wilson said the “unfriendly” weather and climate at the site make it tough on wood and wood components, especially features like shutters.
“They find that their shutters are rotting quicker,” she said.
Eight students worked on the shutters at Willowbank, but only six of them travelled east to help install them on site due to the other two having work commitments, Houghton said.
She said Willowbank, located in an 1834 mansion in Queenston, offers one of the few programs in Canada where students can learn these types of skills. That’s why Parks Canada approached the school to take part in the Louisbourg project, she said.
“We were just so happy that our students could have the opportunity,” she added.
Students graduate with a three-year diploma in heritage conservation, combining classroom theory with hands-on training in traditional techniques, Wilson said. The first two years are in-class and the last year is an internship.
“For me, it’s a very unique program,” she said, adding it’s the perfect marriage of practical education and theory.
The experience at Louisbourg is already opening new doors, Houghton said.
One of the site’s head stonemasons is set to visit Willowbank this summer to give a guest lecture on how extreme weather affects masonry — a connection sparked by the students’ time on site and one the school hopes to continue building on.
“We have people from that site wanting to come out to us,” she said. “Just from our students being out there.”
Wilson’s involvement is far from over, she said, but what comes next is still being determined. She is, however, ready and willing to continue wherever she’s needed.
Her class is already encouraging incoming students to take part, too.
“For us, it was such a valuable experience,” she said, adding that some students are considering going back for their third-year internships.
“Because the staff in Parks Canada were so great,” she said. “They were fantastic hosts.”
This summer, Wilson is interning with the Town as a heritage planner through a placement arranged by Willowbank.
“I’m super excited that my first summer with Willowbank, I’m actually able to work in the field,” she said.
“It feels very fortunate and very lucky.”
Willowbank is still accepting applicants for its heritage conservation program starting in September, with a few spots remaining. The deadline is Aug. 20, but applications may close sooner if the program fills up.
Houghton said she’s “happy to arrange a tour and speak more to the program.”
