It’s the house that students built, and it’s the first of many to come.
About 70 students, teachers, and dignitaries toured the just-built house at 143 Jennifer Cres. on June 20. It was the end result of St. Albert’s first Building Futures program, which saw 9 Paul Kane and 15 Bellerose Grade 10 students work with professional tradespeople during construction.
The crowd heard speeches and had a lunch at nearby Joseph M. Demko School before walking to the house for a tour. St. Albert Public superintendent Krimsen Sumners praised the students for taking a chance on this new program. “We are incredibly proud of you,” she said.
“Every time you drive by that house, you’ll be able to say, ‘That’s the house I built.’”
Built by students Building Futures started in 2013 as a partnership between McKee Homes and Rocky View Schools in Airdrie. It expanded to Parkland School Division in 2019. Contractor Mike Lees saw the program’s potential to address Alberta’s ongoing labour shortage in construction and started the Build Alberta Apprenticeships Foundation to bring the program to communities such as St. Albert.
“There’s just over 5,000 retirees out of the residential trades sector every single year in Alberta,” Lees said, and we need to get about two per cent of all high school graduates into the trades if we want to replace them; we’re at about 1.7 per cent now.
The Building Futures students spent the past school year onsite, taking classes in the home’s garage, said instructor Ken Bishop. When they weren’t doing schoolwork, they were working with tradespeople to build the house or taking field trips to construction-related sites.
“The kids were involved in everything,” Bishop said, from pouring the foundations
to shingling the roof. Student Ollie Bensler said the garage was a pretty noisy classroom because of the construction work.
“It did get pretty stuffy and smelly,” she said, and they had to bundle up against the cold in the winter.
Fellow student Xavier Turcotte said the contractors he and the other students worked with were very helpful and patient in teaching them their trades. It was also pretty cool to build the roof and see it lifted into place by a crane.
Bensler said the students may have doodled some personal touches on the home's framework during construction. “If they tear down the walls, they’re going to see a lot of names.” Bensler said her time in the program inspired her to train as a heavy-duty mechanic. She advised next year’s instructors to put more structure into their lesson plans to make them fit into the program’s tight schedule.
Bishop said this program helped students learn new skills and discover interests they didn’t know they had. Some now have summer jobs in the construction industry. He advised anyone who taught this course to be flexible and prepared to plan around the weather and construction delays.
The home’s new owners are set to take possession on July 10, said Kim Gibbons,
executive vice-president of Encore Master Builder (which oversaw the home’s construction). Her company planned to build a second home through St. Albert Public’s Building Futures program next school year in the Chérot neighbourhood.
Lees said Sturgeon Public and Greater St. Albert Catholic will start their own Building Future programs this fall.
Bensler said she is proud to see the finished house.
“Not everyone can say they built a house from start to finish.”
Questions on Building Futures should go to the St. Albert Public, Sturgeon Public, or GSACRD school boards.
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