Tim Hale, Chairman of the Board with the LCSD2 Education Foundation, stepped into the SVI Radio studio on Wednesday, July 29 to discuss the completion of the 2nd student built home in Afton and its listing for sale.

The following transcript of the above interview is AI generated. Minor spelling errors are likely to occur.

(0:00) Tim Hale joins me live in studio. Tim is chairman of the board for the LCSD2 Education Foundation. (0:06) Tim, good morning.

How are you today? Good, Duke. How are you doing? (0:08) Doing fantastic. Always appreciate you stepping in studio and kind of summertime, (0:13) so maybe a little break, if you will, for the foundation.

But I thought it was fantastic. (0:18) Again, at the end of the school year, held the open house for the home that was built, (0:24) again, by the students over in the Honeybee Estates area. So another successful project (0:29) looks like.

Yeah, it’s really been just an amazing program. This is the second home that we’ve built, (0:35) and these high school students have just been fantastic, just worked really hard, (0:40) had this incredible opportunity through the high school with the help from Mr. Michael Madsen, (0:45) their instructor, to lead the way. And of course, our partner in this program, (0:51) Bank of Star Valley, providing financing, providing a bunch of tools up front, and they’ve (0:56) just been an incredible partner.

So we’re thrilled with how it’s gone and how it continues (1:01) to look for the future. As you’re walking through the house, (1:05) I mean, it’s just incredible. I had a chance to talk with some of the students who participated (1:09) in it, and what a cool opportunity for them to be able to now drive by that thing and say, (1:16) I helped build that, and then take those skills, whether they go into construction or not as a (1:20) To have those skills, I mean, that’s invaluable.

It’s so true. You’re spot on. However they take (1:30) those skills and use them, because they could take them into a career, pursue something in (1:36) construction, general contractor, but yeah, they could take those skills and just apply them to (1:41) their day-to-day.

I remember when I moved here to Star Valley a little over 10 years ago now, (1:46) I was like, man, it seems like everybody just knows how to build houses. (1:52) The summer comes, and if they’re a teacher, then they just go build a house. (1:56) I had no idea how to do any of those things.

And so this program is only perpetuating that reality (2:03) as well. They’re just going to have these skills that they can transfer to your point, (2:07) wherever they may end up. Now, of course, the program kind of feeds itself, right? You mentioned (2:12) Star Valley providing the financing, but once the home’s done, it’s on the market, and you sell it, (2:17) and then you kind of use that to go on to the next one.

So the second home is currently available (2:22) right now, right? It is listed. Yeah, that’s right. We’re listing it with Star Valley Realty.

(2:27) So it is out there on Zillow. In fact, we just decided on a price reduction. I don’t know if (2:33) it’s officially done yet, because we need to kind of update the contract to reflect that, (2:38) but we are reducing the price from its original posting value.

So it is out there. It’s a (2:47) beautiful home. You can get in touch with Star Valley Realty if you’d like to take a look.

(2:51) Of course, you can hop on Zillow. There’s lots of pictures. And yeah, as you were saying, Duke, (2:55) it’s a beautiful home, well, well built, and in a wonderful neighborhood, and fairly modest in size.

(3:03) I feel like this could appeal to someone in the retiree side, but also families with kids that (3:11) are either already in the Valley or are looking to relocate to the Valley. So a great neighborhood (3:15) for that. I have friends and family that live in Honeybee, and there’s kids all over the place.

So (3:21) it’s really a great neighborhood. Absolutely. Now, I know the answer to this question, (3:24) but I’m going to ask it because I know people out there might be wondering, (3:28) thinking of maybe a little hesitant, I don’t want to buy a house that was built by a bunch of kids (3:32) that don’t know what they’re doing, right? Speak to that just to maybe put that concern to rest.

(3:37) Yeah. All I can say is it has been under the direct supervision from start to finish (3:44) with Michael Madsen, who has just done a fantastic job with this program. So he teaches at the high (3:49) school and oversees this program.

So he has been very much involved. Every time the students are (3:56) of course, he’s there supervising, teaching and helping them to do things right. And so (4:03) beyond that, there’s been plenty of people that have gone through the home and taken a look.

(4:07) So it is really exceptional. Go and see it yourself, right? There’s nothing to hide here, (4:14) of course. It’s really just a beautiful home.

And one of the points you were making earlier, (4:18) something that we love about this program is, of course, we can’t really pay the students (4:23) to sort of build it. Technically, maybe we could arrange that, but it’s really part of their (4:28) education, right? And so the labor that goes into this and into the cost of a typical home that’s (4:34) built, that’s usually an expensive piece. Well, we avoid that cost.

And so what we’re able to do (4:40) is sell the home at market price. And then we take those proceeds, the money that was saved from (4:46) having to pay the labor, is then rolled back into the program. So we suspect in the next maybe two (4:53) homes or so that we build in this program, that the program will then be self-funding.

(4:58) It was originally funded with capital from the Bank of the Strava Valley. But now, (5:02) once we get a couple more under our belt, which we totally expect to do, (5:06) the program will be rolling on its own, using the proceeds from these homes, (5:10) roll them into the next home and keep this going and keep this program going for the sake of (5:15) these students and for the broader community. Yeah, that’s fantastic.

After touring the most (5:20) recent completed home and speaking with the Bank of the Strava Valley, it sounds like (5:23) the third home is already in the works. And that’s moving forward as of right now, right? (5:28) Yeah, yeah, that’s right. Yeah.

So kudos again to the bank, Rod Jensen, Marcus Brook, just a (5:36) fantastic team with wonderful vision, a commitment to the community. It’s just really been fantastic. (5:42) And of course, to Superintendent Erickson, Jason Horsley and the foundation board, (5:49) Kim Dockstead are handling the day-to-day as our executive director.

Just an incredible group of (5:53) people. I wrote down in a journal that I very rarely keep, just a few months ago, as I was (6:02) just thinking about this program and some others. And I’ll paraphrase my note, but it was basically (6:07) just this idea of if pride is out of the room with a group of people, some truly incredible (6:13) things can happen.

And that’s really the way, Duke, that I feel about the foundation board (6:18) and particularly with this program, the team at the Bank of Strava Valley, Michael Madsen, (6:24) the folks at the high school, even down to the students, there is no pride in the room. (6:29) And when you have that, you are able to really create some incredible things. And I believe (6:32) that’s what we have with this home building program.

Absolutely love it. So again, if someone (6:36) wants to maybe take a look at the home, go through it, consider a purchase, what’s the (6:41) best way to get started down that path? Yeah, reach out to Strava Valley Realty. So (6:44) Corey Frome, who is a board member, has been helping us with the sale.

So you can contact (6:50) them directly if you’d like to go and take a look. And the home is available. So if you’d like to (6:56) put in an offer, all of that, you can reach out to them.

Excellent. That’s Tim Hale, chairman of (7:01) the board with the LCSD2 Education Foundation. Tim, anything we missed that’s going on with (7:05) the foundation right now? I think that’s it.

We’re on hiatus for the summer, but we’ll be (7:08) regrouping next month to kick off the new school year. Perfect. Love it.

It’s the LCSD2 Education (7:12) Foundation. Tim Hale in studio this morning. It’s all part of the Weekday Wake Up on SVI Radio.