MCDONALD COUNTY, Mo. — Students at McDonald County High School are getting the chance to learn what it’s like to be part of a real construction project.
“We’ve been cutting boards and framing out the walls, cutting windows, putting in headers,” said Chance Grissom, MCHS Senior.
This isn’t your everyday, run-of-the-mill, class project.
That’s what students in McDonald County High School’s “Construction Trades Program” would tell you, as they are participating in the school’s first-ever “Tiny House Project.”
“We’re building this house, it’s a little tiny home actually, and there are two stories with a loft inside, and I just want to see it done. We got our walls up, we got the floor in, started on our rafters. At first, it didn’t look like a house, but now it’s actually really starting to look like a house,” said Gabrial Alejandro, MCHS Junior.
“We just finished putting in the lofts and stuff, and today we were putting in ceiling joists and stuff so we can get our roof on it and get it all tied off so we can start working on the inside of the home and stuff,” said Grissom.
From the initial planning to plumbing and electrical work, students are learning everything it takes to build a house, just on a smaller scale.
“They can learn how to wire, plumb, do masonry, how to frame, how to build cabinets – there’s flooring, roofing,” said Mark Kauffman, MCHS Construction Trades Teacher.
“If you go into a trade, you will use almost all of these, from framing to plumbing, electricity, all of it. If you go into a trade, this is definitely a lot of help,” Grissom.
And it can be quite rewarding.
“I’m very proud to stand on that second floor, it was kinda sketchy at first, with no floor, but you put a floor in there and you are like, man, this is a house,” said Alejandro.
The class plans to have the “Tiny House” completed by the end of the school year.
It’ll be auctioned off, with the proceeds going right back into the program.
