Vigo County School Corp. Construction Trades program building 38th new house since 1986 | News

A new house is being built at Wallace Avenue and South 28th Street, a project of the Vigo County School Corp. Construction Trades program.

It is the 38th house for the program, which began in 1986.

Among those on site Thursday morning was Sydney Jewell, a junior at Terre Haute South Vigo High School.

In the morning, she has applied classes at the construction site and in the afternoon, she takes other classes she needs to graduate at South Vigo.

She grew up around construction activities and initially helped build a porch at her home. “I fell in love [with construction]” and the hands-on effort involved, she said.

While she enjoys math and physics, “I also love the aspect of having my hands dirty,” she said. The VCSC program gives her the opportunity to hone her skills and prepare for her future career aspiration.

Jewell hopes to join the local carpenter’s union and she eventually wants to get a business degree and perhaps have her own business.

She’s enthusiastic about home construction. “One of the best feelings is knowing I’m building a home for someone else and I know they are going to love it there,” she said.

The new house, a single-story ranch that will have three bedrooms and two bathrooms, is being built across from Sugar Grove Estates, which has homes also built through the Construction Trades program.

Students began work on the new home in August and it is expected to be complete by the end of the school year and then put up for sale. Proceeds from the sale are put back into the program to fund next year’s home construction, said Doug Dillion, VCSC director of career/technology education.

The two-year construction trades career pathway exposes students to the various construction trades and the opportunities available after high school, he said.

“There are lots of great careers, and some of them don’t require a traditional four-year degree,” Dillion said. Nationally and locally, there is a shortage of workers in the construction trades.

When students enter union apprenticeships such as the carpenters, it doesn’t cost them any money and they are earning money while they get that education, Dillion said. After they complete the apprenticeship, they’ll have a job with good insurance, a pension and retirement benefits.

“We need housing in Terre Haute. So we need kids who go through programs like this, continue to build their skills” and eventually become residential or commercial builders, Dillion said.

By the time students complete the house on 28th Street, “They will have the skills to do anything on a home,” Dillion said.

On Thursday, students were learning how to cut and make overhangs and fly rafters for the roof under the supervision of Matt Larimer, construction trades instructor. The students used circular saws and had to make cuts at the correct angles.

“It’s always a race against time to get the roof on before winter and it gets really cold,” Dillion said.

Also onsite for the home building effort Thursday was Tequila Pine, a junior at Booker T. Washington High School.

Construction “is probably what I’m going to choose as a career,” she said. She especially likes the idea of knowing how to fix something in a home if it breaks.

“I want to build my own house, eventually,” she said.

In the program, Pine is learning how to set trusses, how to put windows in and other skills, and she’s enjoying it.

Seeing the house come to fruition is an exciting feeling, she said.

Pine also created an art project, a collage, based on the home building effort.

While the construction trades tend to have more men than women, Jewell encourages young women who have an interest to do some research and explore the possibilities.

Give it a try, she says, “and don’t let other people hold you back.”