Recently the junior and senior trades students, 26 in total, worked together to build a shed as a custom order for a member of the community. The trades students built the shed for only the cost of the materials needed to do so. The shed was built at the high school and then moved to the customer’s home. Since the project was also being used as a learning tool, it took around 3-4 weeks to build and is now being used as a storage shed and workshop. 

According to Mr. Whistler, the students’ first steps involved using their math skills to draw scaled plans to use for the construction of the shed. From there they used the plans for pricing and to determine a list of materials to purchase. Following this, they had lessons on how to build rafters, safety precautions, and how to square, plumb, and level buildings. 

While talking about the project, Nick Peterson, a senior in our trades program, said it made him “feel accomplished” knowing that someone now owned and used something that he had helped to build. 

One great advantage of a project like this is that it can “provide a job-like situation in which the students are required to build to the certain specifications requested by the customer,” says Mr. Whistler. In this case, the customer was very pleased with the end result and thanked the students for their hard work.

Watch the video to see the trades classes in action!