HALFWAY, Ore. (AP) - High school students can accomplish some pretty impressive things.
But it’s not often that they design, build and sell a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house.
That’s what high school students did over a six-year period at Pine-Eagle High School in Halfway.
The house, on a lot the school district owns, sold for $179,000 in September.
Constructing the house was part of the school’s Building Trades Program, reported the Baker City Herald (https://bit.ly/2fw2qUC).
“It was quite an undertaking,” said Joe Denig, the school’s agriculture/building trades instructor. “We were able to allow students to see it from creation to finish.”
The single story 1,310-square-foot house with an attached garage was completed this spring.
While the school had general contractors as advisers on site, students did most of the work and gained valuable hands-on skills that will enable them to pursue careers in many construction-related fields ahead of the game.
Students in the Building Trades classes earn credentials through the NCCER (National Center For Construction Education and Research), Denig said. It’s a national program for training individuals in the construction fields.
The industry credentials stay with students throughout their lives, wherever they go in the U.S.
There are two Building Trades classes each afternoon. Since the house’s completion, students have been building fences on campus for the ag program’s organic gardening program as well as building pig sheds and a coop for chickens that will be raised by ag students.
Money to start the Building Trades program at Pine-Eagle came partly from a two-year state grant for $500,000 the school received when it became a charter school. The first year funded the school’s infrastructure and other programs. And the second year award was earmarked for the Building Trades Program.
Denig said the program was actually in peril when the state notified the district it would not be able to award the second part of that grant due to budget constraints. Luckily an anonymous community member hears about the situation and loaned the school $100,000 to keep the program going. Pine-Eagle School District Superintendent Cammie deCastro said the state eventually funded about $80,000 of the second-year allocation of the grant.
The school has received about $200,000 in other grants.
“Without the grants and the support from our community we wouldn’t have been able to do as much as we’ve done,” deCastro said.
Denig said Pine-Eagle officials are considering ways to use revenue from the sale of the house. Options include buying a fixer-upper house to remodel or a lot on which to build another house.
Blake Butler, a 17-year-old senior in the Building Trades class, took a break from roofing one of the pig sheds to talk about helping to finish the house last spring.
“It’s pretty fun,” Butler said. “We get to do a lot of hands-on work. It’s better than sitting in a classroom.”
Butler said he is confident he could build simple structures because of what he learned in the Building Trades classes he has taken. He said he has gained a lot of practical knowledge about construction he can use in the future.
Senior Baylee Bell, 17, who is taking the class for the first time this year, likes that she is learning practical building skills.
“We actually build houses instead of just like little birdhouses,” she said.
Bell said it was no big deal being the only girl in the class. Denig chimed in and said in past classes, the girls were some of the best finish carpenters he had worked with “because they have attention to detail.”
Phillip Holland, 17, is taking the class for the second straight year. He enjoyed learning how to do finish work such as installing doors, windows and carpeting.
“I’ve actually learned quite a bit,” he said.
Holland said with a little bit of direction, he is confident he could get a job as a construction worker after high school with the skills he has learned.
Several of the students agreed they liked the hands-on approach much better than sitting in a classroom.
“I really wouldn’t want an office job,” Holland said.
Superintendent deCastro said the hands-on approach is an important part of the program.
“(It) will benefit them in their personal lives and their professional lives if they choose to go down that path,” she said.
Besides preparation and the opportunity for better starting wages for many construction jobs with NCCER certification, the students will gain practical knowledge as potential future homeowners.
“Knowing how a house is built and knowing how to use (building) code and how to go through that process is an important piece,” deCastro said. “We just want to provide our students with every opportunity.”
Rick Kruger, a 69-year-old retired fish and wildlife biologist, bought the house in September.
It’s a nice small compact house,” he said. “It’s the perfect house for me to retire in.”
That was one of the factors Denig had his students take into consideration at the beginning of the project in 2010. Before deciding what kind of house the students would build, one of their first assignments was to research what kind of houses were selling in Halfway by talking to real estate agents in town.
“In this area you’re probably looking at retirement,” Denig said.
They came up with the parameters for a house that would be attractive to buyers who would be looking for a retirement home. The next assignment was to get the students on the internet and have them each come up with the architectural plans for a house that fit those parameters.
“The students each came up with their best plan and we narrowed it down to the one they liked best,” Denig said.
Another factor that made the house perfect for Kruger is its location directly across the street from the school his granddaughter will be attending in a few years.
“She can walk across the street and come to Grandpa’s house,” he said.
Kruger has had conversations with Denig about possibly utilizing the Building Trades program and its students to build a shop on his newly acquired property.
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Information from: Baker City Herald, https://www.bakercityherald.com/
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