The students in the construction class at Greene County High School met their goal of having this year’s class project, a 1,280-square-foot house on E. Wilcox Way entirely enclosed before cold weather.
There were 12 students in the class for the first trimester, including four students from Southeast Valley in Gowrie. With the start of the second trimester last month the work crew shrank to nine students, with only one Southeast Valley student due to schedule conflicts.
Instructor Chad Morman said the larger crew helped move the project along. He explained that students have been involved in all elements of construction. If help is needed, he brings in local contractors who work alongside the students to finish that part of the project.
The class has also been tapped to remodel the upper levels of a building Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency owns in the 100 block of E. State St in Jefferson.
According to Morman, the remodel project is a “much larger” project than building a new house. He said the timeline has not been developed and it’s not known if that project will be finished before the end of the school year. “Because the project is a remodel there are still some unknown factors of the build until the demo process is complete,” he said.
The class isn’t only for students who are considering a career in construction trades. “Students taking this course don’t necessarily have to be a contractor or want to work construction to take this course it teaches them the start-to-finish of how a house is built for every one of them to help do things in the future for themselves to their own homes,” Morman said.
