May 30, 2013 at 5:44 a.m.
Residential Construction class ready for open house
Students' latest project to be on display Saturday
Residential Construction class ready for open house
Perhaps no class takes that notion more seriously than the Residential Construction class at Rhinelander High School.
Students head out of the classroom and into the field as they spend their school year designing and building a "residential project."
This year, the students built a house for a local family which will be open to the public on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. behind the high school.
"It's a chance for anyone in the public that wants to stop by and take a look at the students' work. We want to showcase the students and their work and the program," teacher Russ Germain said.
More than anything else, the class itself is all about getting the kids hands-on work experience as they prepare for life after school.
"The class is a senior class that goes the whole year that seniors can take once they pass the introductory course. The goal is to complete a residential project. That's the goal. It takes the whole year to do it. We're basically trying to educate students on the aspects of home building and show them strategies in terms of efficiency and different methods like that," Germain said. "This year, the project is being built for a local family that's going to put it on Crescent Lake. It's built to all the same standards as a regular home, it's well insulated, we don't cut any corners."
Not cutting corners, working on a timeline, and working no matter what the weather's like are all aspects of the class Germain uses to get his kids ready for the workforce.
"It's all 99 percent done by students. We're one of a handful of classes like this in Wisconsin, so we're pretty fortunate. It's, I would say, 98 percent hands-on. I treat the day like a regular workday. We work in 30 below wind-chills, with the sun beating down on us, whatever, just like in a real working environment. We do some math and some estimating, stuff like that, that pertains to everything, but in the end, it's all really hands-on," Germain said.
"I'm obviously biased because I teach the class, but I don't know how many people have come up to me and said, 'I use that still today,' whether it's earning a living or maintaining their own home. They're educated about things that, even from a consumer standpoint, it puts them at an advantage. I really hope the public sees that this is something we need here in Rhinelander, that these are classes that really get these kids' hands dirty, that gets them experience, real experience. These skills, you can't replace them with a machine, they're that valuable. And that's what we're doing, trying to develop those skills in these kids."
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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