Assistant Principal Finds Passion in Woodworking

When Eric Morin left his job as an assistant principal, he took a leap of faith. But it was one he knew he had to take in order to follow his passion. Now, after building a house from top to bottom, he proves that it’s never too late to change your course and find your purpose.

“I thought, ‘Well, you only live once and might as well take a chance.'”

Video Transcript

Meet Eric Morin: woodworker

South Bend, Indiana

(Eric cuts wood in a garage with a table saw)

Eric Morin: I think I read one time, it was — don’t necessarily invent your purpose, kind of more detect it, kind of detect along the way where God is calling you and how you’re being led.

Eric left his job as an assistant principal to pursue a passion for woodworking.

He built this house from top to bottom. 

(Eric walks through a house under construction)

This is laundry. This is the pantry off the garage. I would envision probably someone would have a TV here between those windows. And on the other side, where it’s tiled we have ceramic tile — if you want to walk this way.

(Tools and supplies lay around the house)

So I love stuff like Holmes on Homes and This Old House. And I would see that, and it was kinda like mystifying to me, and I thought, “Oh, that’s something I could never do.” But just through working on my own house, I thought, “Well, you know, you only live once and might as well take a chance.”

(Eric puts two pieces of wood together to install baseboards)

Sometimes, like for longer outside corners, I like to preassemble the miter. I just find it’s kind of easier. Then once it’s set up then I can almost like bend it around the corner, once I have it like I like it.

(Eric cuts wood with a table saw, measures for more baseboards, and applies wood glue)

It’s kind of like monk work where you’re just kind of, you get a lot of time to kind of think and ponder things and that’s probably what I miss most. I was working with some really great people, and we were all pretty close friends. And we had a lot of fun banter during the days. So I definitely miss that aspect of working with other people.

The number one thing that I see in terms of teaching in this job is they always said, “Begin with the end in mind,” you know, like when you’re planning a lesson. And then that’s definitely something you have to do here. You have to think about the finishing details before you even start, like, with the rough frame.

(Eric continues to cut wood with the table saw, measure, and install baseboards)

And I’ve just kind of been expanding my knowledge base and praying a lot for the intercession of Saint Joseph along the way, you know, kind of tapping into the creative side of myself that maybe I didn’t really use as much before.

Supposed to have the wood floors finished within the next couple of weeks, and get some carpet upstairs, and hopefully get the house on the market as soon as possible. (Laughs)

(A picture of the finished kitchen and living room staged for showing)

(A picture of the finished front of the house)

(Eric kneels on the floor where he was applying baseboards)

My oldest son is also pretty geeked up about building and engineering and all that stuff. And so for one Christmas, he got a t-shirt from the This Old House guys, like they sent him one, like with his name on it. It was really neat. Yeah.