Abby Nadeau
Community Editor

Somewhere in between the planning, cutting, hammering and blaring 93X, 16 Forest Lake High School juniors and seniors got a glimpse of what their futures could be.

All 16 students are in Mr. Kevin Rivardís Carpentry II class, a class designed to build a house.

Yep, a three bedroom, two bathroom house.

While this may seem like an overwhelming task to some teachers and students, the class was created to give students a look at life as a carpenter.

ìWe thought we werenít providing enough to students who want to do this by trade,î Rivard said. ìNot everyone wants to go to college, or needs to. And that is not a bad thing.î

Therefore Rivard, along with other teachers at FLHS, discussed creating a new class and eliminating some others to better serve their students.

Classroom

expectations

The idea for Carpentry I and II went through a curriculum review process during the 2001-2002 school year, but because of state budget cuts it was not fully in its intended operation until 2006.

Once the funding for the class was available, through advertising, Rivard was able to begin the class.

In order to take the class the school requires that each student take preliminary courses in Woods I and Carpentry I.

ìThe students have to know how to use the tools before they can take the class,î Rivard said.

Rivard added that besides the students, the parents of the students were sent a letter describing the class.

ìI wrote a letter to parents explaining that this class is real,î Rivard said. ìItís a real building site with real tools.î

The first year the class started, during the 2005-2006 school year, the idea of taking on a house seemed a little daunting, so Rivard opted to build the high school a new concession/ticket stand at the entrance to the football field.

Even though the school had enough money for materials, they did not have enough to pay a contractor to do the work. And that is where Rivardís class came into the picture.

ìThe concession stand was designed and built by students on money that was donated or through the sale of advertising on the athletic field,î Rivard said.

Enlisting the help of students in an Architecture III course, the students discussed the problems with the current concession/ticket stand and designed a building that would be more suitable for its purpose.

ìThe building you see now is the outcome of their conclusions,î Rivard said. ìThe way it looks and operates was done by all of them.î

Once the hurdle of being able to build something useful with a large group of high school students had been passed, Rivard new the students could take on something larger.

So over the summer Rivard drew up plans for a house that had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, kitchen and laundry all one one level.

Rivard, who does construction work in his ìspare time,î chose to design the house himself because ìthere are only so many options to lay all of that out.î

ìItís [the house] nothing huge, but nothing is too small,î Rivard said.

Building a house

At the start of school, Rivard had the plans for the house, materials from McCarron Building Center and 16 male students.

Rivard contacted Matt McCarron for material assistance on both the concession/ticket stand and for building the house.

McCarron, a FLHS graduate of 1991 and former student of Rivard, stated he was glad to help out.

ìI wanted to be able to help the students learn about this profession,î McCarron said.

Rivard also received a little help from the Bricklayers Union. Actually you could say the union was the ìfoundationî of the project.

The house the students are building is a modular home that will be built in one place, but will eventually be moved to the future buyers land.

So, while the home is being built, a foundation needed to be constructed for the students to work with.

Through the Brick Layers Union first year apprenticeship program, those students built the foundation and then shipped it over to Forest Lake so it could be used to start building the house.

With the building materials and a solid foundation set, the students are working to build a home that is up to state code, and their own standards.

ìThe kids have done a great job, we keep them at a pretty high standard,î Rivard said. ìEverything is up to code and will be inspected for state guidelines and also for modular home design, so it can be moved across state lines.î

If the work is not of high quality, Rivard stated that he doesnít hesitate to tell his students to tear out what theyíve done to do it again.

ìThey [students] really start to take ownership of the project,î Rivard said.

Currently the students are working on roofing the house and will soon be putting on the vinyl siding.

Rivard stated that when the project is completely finished the students will have ìpoured some concrete, framed, roofed, placed soffits and a facia, installed windows, siding, sheetrocked, installed doors and millwork.î

ìThey will also have the opportunity to see professionals perform their trade in the plumbing, electrical, HVAC, and cabinet installation,î Rivard said.

Cabinet maker, Chris Dalbec, who will be installing the cabinets, is also a former Forest Lake High School student who now owns his own business.

Student

appreciation

As high school students grow older and start to plan their futures, classes like Carpentry II give students a glimpse into a profession that they could possibly spend their lives in.

And it seems the students in Rivardís class understand the benefits of a class such as Carpentry II.

Seniors Luke Kubitschek and Rick Schmidberger both worked on the concession stand project during 2005-2006 school year and are now the ìteachers assistantsî for the 2006-2007 project.

Both Kubitschek and Schmidberger have realized the importance of a class like Carpentry II to their futures.

Schmidberger, who plans to go into Architecture, described the class as ìvery realistic learning.î

ìYou do actually have to think and know math,î Schmidberger said.

Kubitschek agreed, stating that he got involved with the class to further his future as well.

ìI could build my own house someday,î Kubitschek said. ìItís really cool that our school will let us do this.î

Matt Matusiak, a senior, stated that the class ìis more focused on one basic work, and it comes naturally to me.î

Finding a home

for a home

When the house is completely finished, the home will be put up for auction for a minimum bid, possibly by early 2007.

Rivard stated that the buyers of the home will need to ìprovide a foundation, floor coverings, connect the plumbing to the lotís sewer and fresh water systems, and hook up the HVAC system to a plant that they would provide.î

ìThe owners will be able to customize it themselves,î Rivard said.

The proceeds from the sale of the house will go back into the classroom fund to cover the cost of materials and to help with next yearís project.

To see more pictures or to follow the progress of the house visit the Forest Lake Area Schools web site at www.forestlake.k12.mn.us.

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Forest Lake Times
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Forest Lake, MN 55025
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