Groundbreaking Students

Tara LeClair, business and education manager at Door Kewaunee Business & Education Partnership, welcomes everyone to the 8th annual groundbreaking ceremony for the Door-Kewaunee Business and Education Partnership High School Home Construction Project. She is shown on the foundation of the home to be built with the students from four Door County high schools who will be building the home at 822 N. 6th Ave. in Sturgeon Bay, and jobsite instructor Al Atkinson.

Ground was ceremonially broken at 822 N. 6th Ave. in Sturgeon Bay for a 1,550-square-foot home in the Sunrise Hills subdivision that will be built mostly by high school students in the 8th annual Door-Kewaunee Business & Education Partnership (DKBEP) High School Home Construction Project.

The student builders from the four Door County public high schools have already been on the job for two weeks and have a foundation in place.

“This is a wonderful educational opportunity we have here,” said Sevastopol High School senior Caleb Hietpas. “I’ve learned so much just in the past couple of weeks.”

In addition to Hietpas, the student building team includes three other Sevastopol students seniors Bryson Paschke and Trevin Joly, and junior Bailey LaViolette, as well as Krystian Hallett, Gibraltar; Dakota Miller, Sturgeon Bay; and Derek Jess and David Dessart-Merckx, Southern Door.

The students will spend the first three hours of their school day – 7:30 to 10:30 am – working on the house until May 2015, when it will be up for sale on the open real estate market. All revenue generated from the home sale will cover program costs and any remaining will be used as seed money toward future projects.

Tara LeClair, business and education manager of the Door-Kewaunee Business & Education Partnership, said since the start of the program, five residential homes and “one 4,000-quare-foot man cave” were completed by students in the program.

“We were able to sell those homes within 55 days of completing them,” she said. “That is a huge achievement and a credit to the quality and craftsmanship of work that these boys have conducted in the last seven years.”

While the students will do 90 percent of the work, they will be working with advisers from the Door County Home Builders Association. LeClair pointed out that it was the association who came to DKBEP in 2005.

“They were looking for a skilled work force,” she said. “This was an opportunity to help the membership out.”

Joe Porton, president of Door County Home Builders Association, was at the groundbreaking to express his belief in the program and his wish that he and many others in the building trades have, that this program had been available for them when they were in high school.

“You are going to be learning skills here. It’s not just swinging a hammer. You’re going to learn everything from the ground up,” he said. “You will be building a house. Someday it’s going to be purchased and owned by homeowner. At that particular time, it becomes a home. As you’re doing this, nothing should be taken for granted. Everything you do should exceed your own expectations…The people that are going to be owning this home, it’s probably going to be the single largest purchase they are going to make in their life. We need to take that serious, and I know you will.”

Also introduced was Al Atkinson, who will serve as the onsite adviser to the students. Like the students, Atkinson began working in construction in high school, working his way up from apprentice to project coordinator. In 1999 he was hired by Northwest Wisconsin Technical College to teach the apprenticeship program, and he was director of the carpenters union for six surrounding states until his retirement this past summer. He came out of retirement to advise the students on this project.

“I look forward to giving back to the trade,” Atkinson said. “I’m really proud to be part of this. They’re a good group of guys.”

Todd Kiel, who replaced Atkinson as apprenticeship manager at NWTC, thanked the students’ parents for helping them to make the important decision to enter the program.

“For my part, we’re sharing 16 credits from our curriculum,” he said. “The gentlemen in our program are not just getting high school credits, they’re getting 16 credits in our structural systems program that is part of our new construction associates degree. So it’s a good deal for them. They’re pulling down about $1,400 worth of credits, if they choose to use them. So, gentlemen, welcome to NWTC.”

Principals from each of the represented schools were also on hand to talk about the program.

“As a school district, we strive every day to give our kids realistic experiences, and there is no way that we could possibly replicate this type of environment in our classrooms, so to have this partnership with everybody here and to have this opportunity for our schools is really, really a great blessing for our schools,” said Adam Baier, secondary principal at Sevastopol.

Jonathan Barry, deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, said he made a point to be at the groundbreaking to show his support for the statewide program, especially with a “skills gap” in Wisconsin.

“This kind of initiative is exactly what we want to encourage,” Barry said, adding that there is bipartisan support throughout the state to continue the program.