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SVHS continues Residential Construction program

 

In the fall of 2024, Star Valley High School students work on the framing of a new home being built south of Afton, the second such home of the new Residential Construction program. PHOTO/MIKE MATTSON

• Construction of the second home in two years is underway

Star Valley High School’s Residential Construction students are in the process of constructing their second home in two years. The home is framed, and interior work is underway. SVHS Students and their advisors manage the entire process, including accounting and designing of the homes. Investment capital is supplied by The Bank of Star Valley.

Administrators and students celebrated the groundbreaking of that first home in the Spring of 2022 and the home was sold upon completion, providing financial support for this second project.

RELATED: SVHS RESIDENTIAL CONSTRUCTION CLASS COMPLETES PROJECT

The LCSD No. 2 Education Foundation facilitated the launch of this program, orchestrating the collaboration between the high school and the bank. SVHS Construction Advisor Michael Mattson “is really the brains and a lot of the brawn of the operation,” said Foundation Executive Director Tim Hale, in an interview on the SVI Radio Network last month. “This is a collaboration between Star Valley High, The Bank of Star Valley, and the Foundation. The Bank of Star Valley helps to provide initial capital funding and Star Valley High School provides the students who provide all of the labor. Mattson  heads that up. He’s teaching them how to frame and how to drywall and all the ins and outs of managing that project.”

The current status of the home, which is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2025. SVI PHOTO/DUKE DANCE

Hale explained that the Education Foundation’s primary purpose with this program is the acquisition of land and materials for the projects and facilitation of the sales after the homes are completed. “Once we sell that home, (we just sold our first one this past year), the proceeds from that are used to continue to fund the program.”

Hale is pleased about the positive options that the program offers students and the community. “It’s a great education opportunity for the students and a great opportunity to provide more affordable housing in the community. At least these aren’t $600,000 or $800,000 homes, and it’s a great experience overall.”

While the program offers hands-on experience to construction students, it also offers bookkeeping applications to students in the accounting courses and design opportunities to students in drafting courses.

“You don’t just build the house, you do it all,” said Hale. “There’s this incredible project management skill that they’re able to use through this program that is transferable to so many other things. I remember when I was working in college and I was trying to find this internship working with a banker and the guy sent me a book and he said you really need to understand this. And the book was project management and I was surprised that he was sending me a project management book, but I now see the value of it 27 years later. Those skills are so valuable in so many different fields.”

Hale invited community members to become more involved with the Education Foundation by visiting their open board meetings or contacting Foundation board members by phone at 307-885-4015. “We meet every third Wednesday of the month at the school district office at 4:00 p.m. Pop in. We don’t mind people being a fly on the wall and learning more about us. If you’re interested in getting involved, we have a wonderful strong board, but we’re always looking for opportunities to grow our board as well.”

 

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