Construction Trades Students Get Hands-On Experience as They Rebuild House
By Nhi Nguyen and Adrianna Solary
The echos of hammers across the street fill Chrisman and the community with sounds of hard work. There at the house, roughly 100 yards off school grounds, are determined students of the school rebuilding an old house in order to to learn important skills and also clean up the community.
This year, and in the future with the new Career Academy initiative, the Independence School District is giving students the opportunity to experiment in a career that they might be interested in. In this case it’s construction trades.
The district introduced two academies this year, Industrial Tech and Computer Science, and the IT Academy includes a construction pathway. The students are stripping and rebuilding a house, a project new to Chrisman but not to assistant superintendent Brad MacLaughlin.
“The district I was in prior to Independence had a similar program,” he said.
With the project in mind, superintendent Dale Herl came across the house and knew it was a good fit.
“I saw the house was for sale last year when I was driving near Chrisman. The district made an offer on the home and it was accepted by the bank. the house was in foreclosure prior to the district acquiring it,” Dr. Herl said.
The first few weeks the house did not contain any students instead it was being tested for things like asbestos, mold or lead. It turns out the house did indeed have asbestos but all problems have been fixed and the project is moving forward.
Now that the students are working on the house, it is not just construction students who will make an impact. It is up to the wood shop students to construct and clean it up first, then it is the interior design students’ to make it into a complete home.
There is still a lot to do before it is a complete home. A new roof has to be installed because of a poisonous substance in the insulation of the house , a new driveway must be paved, the garage of house has to be completely redone, and to finish everything the interior design team has to decorate the inside once the foundation of the home is set.
After the home is completed it will then be on the market to sell again. The house has 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, and an unattached garage.
Teacher Scott Englemann, woods and construction trades teacher, is currently in charge of the construction of the house.
“We have 8 people working on it in the morning and 11 in the afternoon. And we’re trying to work on it every day, hopefully it will be all set and done before the end of the year,” said Englemann.
This is just the beginning. When it's done the district will list the home with a realtor and sell it. Afterwords there will be plan to buy, rebuild, and sell more houses in the future.
“We are excited about the future of the Career Academies in the ISD. Internships within the Capstone courses will begin to be offered next August. upon full implementation, we want every graduate to come out of our school system with a focus on their career and a skillset that will enable them to achieve their career goals,” MacLaughlin said.
The echos of hammers across the street fill Chrisman and the community with sounds of hard work. There at the house, roughly 100 yards off school grounds, are determined students of the school rebuilding an old house in order to to learn important skills and also clean up the community.
This year, and in the future with the new Career Academy initiative, the Independence School District is giving students the opportunity to experiment in a career that they might be interested in. In this case it’s construction trades.
The district introduced two academies this year, Industrial Tech and Computer Science, and the IT Academy includes a construction pathway. The students are stripping and rebuilding a house, a project new to Chrisman but not to assistant superintendent Brad MacLaughlin.
“The district I was in prior to Independence had a similar program,” he said.
With the project in mind, superintendent Dale Herl came across the house and knew it was a good fit.
“I saw the house was for sale last year when I was driving near Chrisman. The district made an offer on the home and it was accepted by the bank. the house was in foreclosure prior to the district acquiring it,” Dr. Herl said.
The first few weeks the house did not contain any students instead it was being tested for things like asbestos, mold or lead. It turns out the house did indeed have asbestos but all problems have been fixed and the project is moving forward.
Now that the students are working on the house, it is not just construction students who will make an impact. It is up to the wood shop students to construct and clean it up first, then it is the interior design students’ to make it into a complete home.
There is still a lot to do before it is a complete home. A new roof has to be installed because of a poisonous substance in the insulation of the house , a new driveway must be paved, the garage of house has to be completely redone, and to finish everything the interior design team has to decorate the inside once the foundation of the home is set.
After the home is completed it will then be on the market to sell again. The house has 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, kitchen, laundry room, and an unattached garage.
Teacher Scott Englemann, woods and construction trades teacher, is currently in charge of the construction of the house.
“We have 8 people working on it in the morning and 11 in the afternoon. And we’re trying to work on it every day, hopefully it will be all set and done before the end of the year,” said Englemann.
This is just the beginning. When it's done the district will list the home with a realtor and sell it. Afterwords there will be plan to buy, rebuild, and sell more houses in the future.
“We are excited about the future of the Career Academies in the ISD. Internships within the Capstone courses will begin to be offered next August. upon full implementation, we want every graduate to come out of our school system with a focus on their career and a skillset that will enable them to achieve their career goals,” MacLaughlin said.
Video Courtesy Independence Schools
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