For the past five years, Rocky View Schools' Building Futures Program has done more than teach students the trades and how to construct a home, it has built better people.
"It's life changing for these students," said Craig Wiens, Kingsmith Homes owner, the company that has partnered with the program since its inception. "What we're seeing through the program is students are maturing on a more adult level."
Whether its learning to be more assertive, fostering improved communication skills or understanding the value of taking ownership of a job well done, Wiens said the Building Futures Program takes education to a higher level. The program puts students on a construction site for the school year, where they assist in the construction of two Cochrane spec homes.
"The students gain a level of competency and maturity in their abilities," said Wiens, adding an unexpected benefit of the program has been seeing the students "grow as human beings."
Over the course of the year, Wiens said he has noticed that the social issues around bullying and segregation don't exist in the Building Futures Program as students from all walks of life learn to work together and respect each other.
Teacher Matthew Chomistek, who has been at the helm of the instruction of Building Futures in Cochrane since it began, beams about its results on student learning.
“They really take ownership. When they feel that ownership over their learning they are more invested in it. It’s really cool to see the confidence in themselves grow," he said. "I taught for nine years before I started teaching Building Futures but I have never seen growth like I see here."
Along side fellow teacher Darryl Korody, Chomistek said an added focus for this year's program has been civic pride and responsibility.
Through that philosophy the students have engaged in a number of projects aimed at giving back to the community such as partnering with the Cochrane Public Library to help Fireside children build little libraries or cut material for a beehive making project. The students also volunteered at the food bank, Cochrane Lightup and conducted community cleanups.
"Darryl and I think it’s important to give back and make good on what the community has done for us. We think this program can do so much more than teaching them their core curricular content. We get them for a full year and we can really have an impact on their views of things. So, if we can send them out with a sense of efficacy about community involvement then we have made Cochrane a little bit better," said Chomistek.
That being said, the students also come away with a strong understanding of not only their core subject matter but how to apply it to real-world situations.
" There is a misconception in the program that everything we do is construction oriented," said Chomistek, adding that the gamut of subject matter is covered in class.
Students aren't just learning the obvious competencies of math, trigonometry and physics needed to build a structure, they are also learning about communication, writing and sociology.
"We do persuasive writing in English, so our students did some writing for the listing to try and persuade people to buy this house," Chomistek said as one example, adding in social studies students learn about globalization and Building Futures incorporates that through lessons in micro and macro economics.
Most importantly, Chomistek says the program enhances the students' commitment to learning – there are no 50 per cent grades.
"So many times in school 50 per cent is a pass so if you are not that motivated then maybe you just get that 50 per cent and away you go. Where as here, doing half of a job or half your best is not acceptable," Chomistek said. "Our students really learn how to do things well. Kingsmith Homes takes a lot of pride in the way they do things, it's up to a very high standard."
Jaeden Klassen, a Grade 10 student at Bow Valley High School, said she chose Building Futures because she saw it as an opportunity to succeed.
"I chose it because of the different learning style. Since we only have two teachers throughout the year, they understand our learning style and what we need to do to be successful. I figured it would help boost my grades up for university," she said, adding she appreciates the fact the skills she learned can be easily applied to real life.
Treyton McClelland, also in Grade 10 at Bow Valley High School and wants to be an electrician, said the program has helped a lot toward his goals. He had the opportunity to assist in the wiring of the house. He added he appreciates the depth of the learning, which allows students to focus on subject material for longer periods of time as opposed to a couple classes a week.
"It really helped me with my grades because I can take my time with it instead of being in a hurry," he said.
Both students also praised the dynamics of the class and the interactions with their peers.
“It’s almost like we’re a big family. We grow with each other, we learn together, we make mistakes with each other," Klassen said.
The results are what keeps Kingsmith Homes committed to the program, which Wiens said requires a considerable financial investment from the company for extra staff time, to building the classroom, to ensuring the right people are on site at the right time to facilitate student learning.
Wiens added the benefits of the program also trickle up to the tradespeople by demonstrating the value of their work and knowledge.
"A lot of trades don't realize they have something worth teaching," he said.
Building Futures is holding its Celebration of Learning on Wednesday, May 29, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 88 Willow Street to showcase their work.
During the evening, the Cochrane and Area Humane Society will be on site with adoption ready-dogs from 4 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. in a custom-made doghouse built by the talented students. This one of a kind doghouse will be auctioned off at the Humane Society Gala in November 2019. To help support the society, students will also be offering burgers and hot dogs in exchange for a donation to the Cochrane Humane Society.
As a fun treat, one of the basements will be transformed into a locked room. The room will be available for 20-minute intervals for teams to test their skills from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Times will need to be reserved by contacting [email protected].
