![Azalia Quinn fills out a mock ballot. On Thursday, Oct. 24 AP Government students did a pretend election to experience what it’s like. “If you can get [students] enthused about voting at a young age, the chances are higher that they’re going to continue this process throughout their adulthood,“ Brian Brown, the AP Gov teacher said.](https://mshsprospector.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/18FGwFbMo8mtfWGnVEvaqiODxDZhuV9ipRw3DAgL-1200x960.jpg)
The Manitou Springs High School Careers in Construction classes built a house that was moved the night of Sept. 8. The house was moved from the school parking lot where it was previously being built. After the removal of the house, the construction classes are already working on the leveling structures to start a second home build.
The home build was started in November of 2021 by Brad Borkowski, the current construction teacher who is leading the projects. Classes have been waiting for the house to be moved since November of last year. “What we’ve been doing in the meantime is just finding stuff to help us improve on the next home build,” Borkowski said. “So just kind of practicing reading blueprints, practicing framing, laying out 16 on center, and just all the stuff that we’re going to need when we start the next house to be able to do right when we get the material to get started.”
In the past couple years, there were about three classes working on the build at a time, consisting of a total of thirty to forty students a year. “That’s about the perfect amount, because if there’s any more students, it just becomes a hassle of trying to keep everyone busy,” Borkowski said.
The house was built in many steps including site prep, building up the floors, raising the walls, and putting the roof on, followed by industry partners completing the electrical, plumbing and HVAC. After that, the class continued by hanging doors, doing cabinet work and finishing up the detail work. The house was then moved involving a handful of processes. “It was a big process and a big undertaking, but the majority of that was done by the actual movers themselves,” Borkowski said.
Some struggles that the construction classes had while working on the previous home build was their attention to detail and the finish work. Because of this, one of the goals for the new home build is to improve on these skills. “I think we’re going to have students actually practice more detailed work beforehand,” Borkowski said.
The home built by the construction classes was a modular home, and it was built in two halves for the purpose of being moved one day. George Whitt, one of the people overlooking the building process, believes that even though the process of building a modular home versus a traditional home wasn’t too challenging, there were still a couple of differences to overcome.
“It’s quite a bit different, because you have a split in the middle and it was hard to hide that you got a hole in the ceiling,” Whitt said.
Whitt has built hundreds of houses, and his job is to help advise Borkowski throughout the building process. He said that the main thing students need to work on for the upcoming build would be proper use of tools. “Hammer and nail would be the big one for some of them,” Whitt said. “And proper use of a saw. That’s always a critical thing.”
Whitt also believes that the class gives students many opportunities.“It gives students an opportunity to learn hands on and have the satisfaction of seeing what you’ve done and at the end of the day,” Whitt said. “You walk away and you know what looks different.”
Karo Couture (11), a student who worked on the home build, also says that this class opened up opportunities for him and other students. “You get to see all of the different fields of construction, and the pay grades, what they do, and how they do it,” Couture said.
Borkowski thinks this class is important for students. “It gets students interested in the industry of construction, but it also helps them be a better homeowner, because they know what it takes to build a house and they know how to repair things after they’ve seen it be built for the first time,” Borkowski said.
Borkowski believes that an important mindset and skill to have when working on the home build is to understand the value of time. “Thinking of time as a resource is important, and we have to use it appropriately,” Borkowski said. ”I think that really carries over well with students that go into the industry, or just any jobs in general, is that they have to value the time and use it appropriately.”
Borkowski’s classes are planning to start a new home build as soon as they possibly can. “I’m very excited. We’ve been sitting around since November wanting to work on something, and we really haven’t had anything,” Borkowski said. “And so now we have this thing moved. We can start fresh, and I’ve learned so much from the first build that the second build is going to be way easier and a lot more fun to work on.”
