Twenty-three Students from Bow Valley and Cochrane high schools showed off work they did on the construction of two residential homes last week.
The May 26 open house was the culmination of a yearlong project through The Cochrane Building Futures Exhibition of Learning.
Parents and the public had an opportunity to see the student’s handiwork – two houses they helped build in partnership with Kingsmith Homes – and view other projects the students have completed throughout the year.
The construction of the two single-family homes, which are located in the Willows of River Heights, started in September 2015.
“This is the first time we’ve had more than one school participate in the program,” said Jason Ness, a teacher at Bow Valley High School.
The program initially started in Airdrie three years ago at George McDougall High School. The following year, Cochrane began to participate as well.
“The first year they did it, we had heard of the program and did a tour of it mid-year and decided it was neat and we wanted to copy it,” Ness said.
Building Futures allows the students to mentor under professionals in the construction industry and gain firsthand experience. Ness compared the work to essentially what an apprentice would do.
“Instead of being in a shop, we are literally working on two construction sites … they literally do everything that doesn’t involve heights,” Ness explained.
Ness said of the two homes, one was about 60 per cent to 70 per cent student-built and the other was around 50 per cent student-built. The variation comes from what stages the projects were in when the students started.
“One is more student-built than the other because its framing stage was almost 100 per cent done by students,” Ness said.
That project required a large time commitment and Ness said if the students weren’t fully engaged, the homes wouldn’t have been completed. All the students needed for equipment were steel-toed boots – all the necessary tools were supplied.
He added while it might seem like a bad idea to purchase a home built by 15- and 16-year-old students, they are likely the best built homes on the street.
“Not necessarily because it’s 16 year olds that are doing it, but because they are under such heavy scrutiny. The supervisors are on site literally every day making sure that everything is just so, which is more than we can say about any other house,” Ness said.
While the program is ideal for students who plan to pursue a career in the construction industry, Ness said the program had a wide variety of students.
“There are a significant number of our students where that’s the direction that they’re planning on taking when they leave high school, so this is a natural fit. But I would say there was also a significant percentage of students who aren’t necessarily interested in the trades – they just wanted to do something for their Grade 10 year,” Ness explained.
For Hope Perry and Kiara Elliot, two students who participated in the program, the project was a chance to do something new.
“I’m a hands-on learner so I thought this program would be excellent. Also, I don’t like sitting in a desk for six hours a day doing just papers, so I thought having something physical to do would be a lot better for my learning,” Perry said.
“My brother was in the program last year and he really enjoyed it, so that’s how I heard of it. I started learning more about it and it seemed really interesting to me, it’s just something different from normal school. I do like school, but this is a new opportunity that teaches you life skills,” Elliot said.
Career-path aside, the program is a great asset to have on the students’ resumes. Perry and Elliot both said it was also nice to apply what they were learning in school to a real-life scenario.
“This increases their job marketability tremendously given their age. You can’t say that many 15 and 16 year olds have had the opportunity to have an experience like this. They get a feel for every stage of building and make connections with the individual contractors,” Ness said.
Students had to balance their time on the construction sites with regular class work. Ness said students would spend two half-days each week on site in groups of two to six people.
Classes were taken in a garage located just off of the construction sites, the exception being Fridays when the students would be at their schools for physical education and lab work.
Now that the open house is over, it is anticipated one of the homes will be on the market in the upcoming week. The other home sold ahead of schedule before the open house thanks to some enthusiastic buyers.
Ness said 29 Grade 10 students are expected to participate in the program next year, and it will also expand to include Springbank students.
“From a teacher perspective, I’m so proud of the students who were involved in the program this year. They shined in terms of their commitment to hard work and mastery of the work they were doing on the job site and in their schooling. We’re very grateful as well to Kingsmith Homes for their continued support,” Ness said.
