NEW PALESTINE — The 12-by-12-foot mini model home has flooring, siding, a roof and electricity. But the best part about the project is that students built it from the ground up, including the concrete slab it sits on.
The tiny house cost about $2,500 to build and is inside the New Palestine High School engineering workshop. The building is the finished project of four different introduction-to-construction classes, taught by Dave Post.
This is the third year Post’s students have built a mini house from scratch. The idea behind the class is to expose students to work skills they might use for possible careers, particularly for some who might not want to go on to college.
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryThe students learned plumbing, electrical and carpentry skills from Post, who also took his students to meet with building trades professionals so they could learn even more skills and get information about apprentice programs. Students who really enjoy the work can go on to Walker Career Center and earn specialized work certification by the time they graduate from high school.
“Some of these kids are going to go on and do construction as a profession, and I want to expose them to those opportunities,” Post said.
His manufacturing and construction classes fall in line with college and career readiness guidelines as well as the new Graduation Pathways program, which goes into effect during the 2022-23 school year.
With the pathways programming, according to the Indiana Department of Education, students will be able to individualize their graduation requirements to align to their post-secondary goals. Students no longer have to fit into the same academic mold, but can choose the options that best meet their aspirations.
During the first semester in Post’s class, students learned the basics of construction, talked with professionals and practiced beginning construction skills. In February, they started building.
The students completed the house on time before the end of the school year with a real since of accomplishment.
“The stuff we learn here, you’re actually going to use some day, and that’s different from a lot of classes we have to take in high school,” said Cooper Engle, a junior.
Cooper, 17, took Post’s manufacturing class last year and found it to be extremely useful. It made other, more traditional classes pale in comparison, he said.
Damon Estes, 17, who’s leaning toward becoming a dairy farmer, said he knows the skills he learned in the class will come in handy for a life on a farm.
From measuring concrete to framing a building, Damon, who’s a junior, thinks he could even build a full-size house.
“I’m confident enough that I could walk out of here today and build a decent, B-plus house,” he said.
Much of what the students learned had to do with gaining hands-on experience and learning how to perform specific tasks the right way.
Brice Thompson, 17, a sophomore, is certain he wants to go on to a trade school for welding to make a living and possibly do some work in construction along the way. He’ll finish up his high school career online the next couple of years while working.
“I’ve always had a passion to build things,” Brice said.
He already has a job in landscaping building water features. For Brice, the construction class gave him real skills and showed him professional carpenters’ shortcuts that make building fun.
Unfortunately, the students will have to tear down the project. However, all the lumber and other supplies will be usable for other projects in the manufacturing class to be taught during the 2019-20 school year. Post will then offer the construction class again in 2020-21. He’s thinking about having the students build something they can give to charity.
