WATERVILLE, Vt. (WCAX) – Each year, students in Green Mountain Tech Center’s construction program build a house for a member of the community. The recipient of this year’s project happens to work at the Lamoille Union Middle and High School, which is located on the same campus as the tech center.
“It’s so special for me as a teacher to see that I was their librarian, and now they’re going out to the world with just really concrete skills that Greg has taught them, and how amazing that is that they are just growing and learning as humans,” said Meagan Towle of Lamoille Union Middle and High School.
“It’s a local community being able to get this done, it’s not just our class,” said Gregory Stokes, the construction technology instructor at the Green Mountain Technology and Career Center.
Stokes says it’s important to teach these students about the trade industry.
“It’s just a matter of the trades. The industry needs young individuals to come into the trade and there’s no better place than starting here giving understanding,” Stoke said.
This is the 60th house the Green Mountain Tech Center has put together. This year, there are 11 students working on this house in Waterville.
“It’s always fun to see the project and the kids get to see the finale some years with rain delays and getting the foundation done. Sometimes they don’t get a chance and it’s always nice to spend a couple of weeks actually seeing a product finished,” Stokes said.
The program helps students like Camden Stewart, 17, realize they want to work in construction.
“I actually joined it to gain experience because I had no experience of construction and I thought it would be a good idea,” Stewart said.
Towle says in addition to the house, it has been a rewarding experience to see the students learn these skills.
“It’s just awesome to see the students become not experts yet but have that level of confidence and I can do this and I’m like confident and I can just achieve something and this is a very concrete thing to achieve,” Towle said.