Central Lee Building Trades Program
It has been an action-packed start to the school year for the Building Trades Program, with all our classes pushing through projects and classroom sessions to get the most we can out of school year. Students are seeking to pick up a few life skills and perhaps find something that interests them enough to pursue as a career.
Carpentry 4 is our higher-level construction class that is strictly out on job sites. It’s a class made up of seniors who have been through the previous courses, and it runs every other day for three periods. Last year, we started taking on jobs from community members within the district. These jobs range from small sheds and garages to full houses.
This year, we have several jobs to complete. Currently, we are building a 32’x48’x14’ pole barn that will be a shop, which we hope to have wrapped up by Thanksgiving Break. There are two other builds for this group to finish up by the end of the school year.
Carpentry 3 has been building a 16’x16’x10’ pump house building on the north side of the new Ag Annex we built a few years back. It has been a challenging build, as we have had to construct the new structure around the existing pump house due to the mechanicals that could not be removed or exposed to the weather. Once completed, we will remove the old structure and finish the inside of the building.
Carpentry 2 is into the wall and roof framing unit. They have been constructing a module in the back of the shop that will be an interactive teaching tool for future classes. They are now cutting rafters for the module.
Carpentry 1 has completed their construction math unit and is about to complete their general safety unit, as well. Once completed, they will be in the shop building sawhorses as their first project. Moving forward, this class will complete units in print reading and OSHA safety.
Our Walls and Ceilings class has all their drywall hung and has started the finishing process. Each group has a room that will be textured and painted by the end of the semester.
At the end of the month, we will again take a team of five students to Des Moines to compete in the high school skills competition. It’s a great opportunity for our students to compete against 25-30 other schools in the state in a high-paced, challenging build.
