In Wayne Township, construction students build a house and a career
(MIRROR INDY) — Yazmin Taylor was one of the few girls this spring in her Wayne Township construction trades class.
The senior attended the Area 31 Career Center, which has a campus in Wayne Township and serves students from 11 nearby high schools, including Taylor’s Plainfield High School. Taylor, who’s “usually the quietest person,” said she found her interest in becoming a leader after her time spent in the center’s construction trades program.
Not only does she embody an underrepresented demographic in construction trades, but she also became a student ambassador through her program and wants to become a project manager or superintendent on a job site.
“For the longest time, I wanted to be a veterinarian,” Taylor said. “But then I found out, I like this a lot more, just working with my hands overall and leading.”
Taylor’s story, and others like it, are a sign that the high school career center program is working. It comes at a time when state officials are urging, through a diploma redesign process, the creation of more work and apprenticeship opportunities for high school students.
“Many of these students do have a desire to go into some aspect that’s related to the building of homes,” Wayne Township Schools Superintendent Jeff Butts said. “This gives them the aspect, over the course of the year, to really figure out ‘What do I enjoy most?’”
‘Life lessons and a job’
Taylor shared her enthusiasm at a May 17 open house for the program’s latest project — a house built by construction trades students on the west side at 307 S. Vine St.
Area 31 Career Center students have a history of building homes as a part of the two-year construction trades program, but this is the first one students have completed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Construction trades is just one of dozens of programs offered at the career center. Students also can pursue programs such as automotive service, criminal justice, medical assisting and radio broadcasting.
Taylor helped with math and some decision making on the construction trades project. She said she created estimates for sod, electrical and plumbing work. Other classmates helped with labor, including foundation and casing work.
Taylor and another student helped their teacher with design choices, such as paint colors in the house. They went with a blue shade for the home’s open-concept kitchen, Taylor said, because the color had “a nice little offset to it. It makes it look lighter.”
Construction trades instructor Bill O’Neal said he usually starts his students with the basics, such as how to read measuring tape and use hand tools. Then, he graduates students up to the shop, where they learn how to cut lumber before moving out to the job site.
The program seeks to use different home designs and fixtures from year to year so students have experience with different aspects of construction. It’s also a part of their course curriculum, Butts said.
With that experience, students pick up skills they could use in the field. O’Neal, who owns a construction company, also invites industry professionals — more than two dozen this school year — to speak to his classes. Some of his students complete apprenticeships or have union memberships lined up by the time they graduate high school.
O’Neal said he hopes students walk away with “life lessons and a job.” The house, O’Neal said, is just a product of what his students do.
“These are my true products right here,” he said at the open house, motioning to his students. “It’s getting them out and getting them successful.”
Lifting up neighborhoods
Area 31 partners with Indy Gateway, an economic development nonprofit dedicated to westside revitalization, which buys the property students build on and later helps them sell it.
The cost of homebuilding has increased substantially since the students’ last build, Indy Gateway Executive Director Lisa Bentley said, but the program is designed to be self-sustaining. Proceeds from the students’ last home build are used to pay for materials for the next.
“The price of the home has more than doubled in the last six years to build,” Bentley said. “Our first house cost about $70,000 to $75,000 to build and now we’re at about $180,000.”
The nonprofit is often able to acquire property at little cost either through partnerships or tax sales, and community partners, such as Dammann’s Garden Center & Greenhouse and FedEx, donate construction materials or volunteer service to the builds.
Before students took to it, the Vine Street property was a brush-covered lot with a vacant house, O’Neal said. After Indy Gateway’s purchase, the lot was divided into two. Students spent about three weeks clearing brush from their portion of the site.
The program seeks to expose students to different types of contract work throughout building the home. However, Bentley said, any work that requires a license is carried out by professional partners. Indy Gateway also works with subcontractors to help students get caught up if they’re falling behind schedule. The goal is to start a project in the summer and finish by the end of the school year.
This year’s build was Area 31’s first on Vine Street. Students have built four homes already in Drexel Park and plan to return there next year. The locations of the homes are chosen with a goal of building near public transportation and lifting up surrounding neighborhoods.
“People lose that spirit a bit sometimes when they see communities go down and think ‘Why should I put money into my house?’” O’Neal said. “Then as they see it’s going to be a new home going up, you start to see new fences being put up, new roofs being put on. People think ‘Oh, they’re trying to better our neighborhood,’ so then it kind of wears off on other people.”
Gateway to careers
The project had its challenges. Weather occasionally kept students from getting out to the job site and the home made local headlines this spring after a series of break-ins. O’Neal said he watched his students’ hearts drop when they learned the home’s wiring was stolen just before spring break. He said a partner, City Electric Supply, donated replacement wiring.
“All of our partners that help us,” O’Neal said, “love the program. They love what it does for the kids. It gives them that basic skillset to get out there and get a job.”
Taylor is one of those students. As she welcomed guests last month to the Area 31 open house, she was also finishing up finals and preparing for her next opportunity: a job with Duke Energy, offered to the high school senior before her graduation.
Taylor said she’s excited for those who plan to join the career center program in the future and advised them not to stress. She said she stressed, too, in the early days of the build.
“I was like, ‘We’re not going to get this done in time’ for like a month,” Taylor said. “I’m very proud of myself and my fellow students. I’m excited to see it done.” Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.