LADY LAKE

Workin' hard for a career path

Construction Academy students get hands-on experience at Habitat for Humanity house

Linda Florea / Correspondent
Kaleb Ward makes pilot holes while Kameron Hagger, background, nails on the trim at the Habitat for Humanity home in Lady Lake. [Linda Florea/Correspondent]

LADY LAKE — It might have been cold and early in the morning, but the student workers were busy this week painting and nailing trim in Lady Lake at a Habitat for Humanity build. The 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom 1,170-square-foot home is also a project for seniors in The Villages Charter High School Construction Academy.

The Construction Academy is a two-year program that started last year for high school juniors and seniors. There are currently 13 juniors and 11 seniors in the program.

Teacher Bruce Haberle said the current seniors built a shed during their junior year, but this year they got the opportunity to work on the Habitat house.

“We want these students to have options so they can best use the skills they have, or the skills they are going to develop,” he said.

Students in the program are certified with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the National Center for Construction Education and Research.

Homeowner Jasmine Jacobs, who has also been working on the home, said the students have made a lot of progress.

“I’m very grateful for the students and I appreciate everything they’ve done so far,” she said.

Jacobs, a single mom, said she could not have afforded a home without the help of Habitat for Humanity.

While the house has been worked on by other groups, Habitat construction manager Barry Martin said the students have done about 90 percent of the work that did not need to be done by a licensed contractor, such as electricity and plumbing.

“They approached Habitat to bring the boys out to work on a home,” Martin said. “It’s turned out very well and I’m pleased with it.”

The students have been working on the house for about 1.5 hours a day Monday through Thursday since the beginning of the school year. They spend Fridays in the classroom. The group plans to wrap up the project about a month before the end of the school year.

“I’ve done construction for a long time. My mother is the theater arts teacher at the middle school and I make sets,” said student Knowlen Kirkland. “I’d like to get a construction management degree at college.”

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