Northwest Technical students finish house
CHRIS ROUSH/DAILY FORUM
The Northwest Technical School Building Trades Program completed its project of building another house in the Maryville Community. The newest home is located at 308 E. Sixth Street in Maryville.
Students enrolled in the building trades program at the Northwest Technical School take part in an annual community project — building a new house in Maryville.
“We actually build a house from start to finish every year,” Building Trades Instructor Jay Drake said. “There are a few things that we don’t do, but the students still get to see the concepts of it being done. For instance, we have subcontractors for the concrete, electrical, plumbing because there are things that can go wrong easier with those things.”
Along with hiring subcontractors to finish those requirements, Drake said another group comes in and finishes the sheet rock, but the students do the rest of the “grunt work.”
The purpose of students building the houses is to give them a better understanding of all aspects of home construction.
“Eventually, everyone wants to own a house some day,” Drake said. “Hopefully, this program gives these students a better understanding of how to do home repairs. We do have some students that go on to work in the construction field.”
Before Tuesday night’s meeting, Maryville R-II Board of Education members and administrators took a tour of the completed house located at 308 E. Sixth St.
For the past several years, the Building Trades Program has been busy in the community, helping to build the commons area at the high school and multiple houses in the community.
Northwest Technical School Director Jeremy Ingraham said the building trades program has been important for students.
“It’s been great,” Ingraham said. “First and foremost, the credit should go to Drake and the students. He’s been great, just being able to teach the curriculum to the students in the classroom and then to actually be able to get out and build a home in the community each year is remarkable.”
Drake said the program has provided students the opportunity to receive more hands-on training than what they would get in the classroom.
“The students receive the basic concepts,” Drake said.
“Obviously, we stay in the classroom and do all of our safety work. Before we go out, we stay in the classroom and go over framing a house. This allows the students to have a good understanding of what goes into building a house.”
The purpose of the project is for the students to learn from mistakes and to become comfortable with what they are doing, the program director said.
Over the years, Drake said the most mistakes happen toward the beginning of the year.
“A lot of it is trial and error,” he said. “I see a lot of that during the beginning of the school year, but by the end of the year, I can usually tell them to just go do something and they do it.”
After each house is built, Drake feels a sense of accomplishment, but not for himself. He feels it for his students.
“It is very rewarding,” Drake said. “The beginning of the year, a lot of them couldn’t do certain things, but by the end, they can do it and hopefully they keep that knowledge moving forward.”
The next project the students will undertake is building another cabin at Mozingo Lake Recreation Park in the fall.
Ingraham said he is proud of the hard work the students put in.
“You have students that start at different ability levels and skills,” said said. “I am proud to see students that come in with little to no knowledge of carpentry skills and by the end of the one-year or two-year program be successful is rewarding.”
The house that was just completed had up to 20 students working on the project throughout the year. Some of the students worked in the mornings, the rest were part of the afternoon sessions.
