Career center students assist Habitat for Humanity with home build

MEDINA — The hands-on experience gained by students in the Medina County Career Center's Construction Trades program will soon benefit one Brunswick family. As part of a joint effort with Habitat for Humanity of Medina County, several students are in the process of prebuilding the exterior walls of a home that Habitat will soon construct in Brunswick and provide to a family in need. Tom O'Connell, Habitat's executive director, said working with the students is not only beneficial for the organization but also rewarding for himself and the students to take part in the home-building mission. "The original plan, back in December, was that we were going to have them come on site and help us build and give them experience and us some manpower," O'Connell said. "They went to online learning at that time. So, after they started going back to school, we reached back out and started talking about how we could still work together." After receiving the lumber and talking with the members of Habitat this week to learn more about the job, construction officially began Thursday. Todd Mason, the program's main instructor, said this type of project is nothing new to his students. "The kids could not wait to get started on it. They were chomping at the bit," Mason said. "These kids have done framing before. They're already good at it. I imagine it would take us, considering we only have a couple hours a day in here to work on them, we should have it done in a matter of two weeks." As far as core construction of the house — located on Byron Drive down the road from Applewood Elementary School — O'Connell said he expects to begin in March, adding that April remains a possibility if the weather does not cooperate. He also anticipated the project to be completed by the end of August. Habitat bought the land back in October. O'Connell said prior to the lot becoming vacant there was a house on the property before a fire led to it being demolished. This is not the first time that career center construction students have assisted either Habitat or other local community organizations. Mason said that goal is a backbone of what the program is about and both he and O'Connell are hopeful the partnership will continue to grow into the future. "This won't be the last time we work together on projects like this," O'Connell said. "Their help and what they are going to do is huge. Instead of us having to frame in those exterior walls on site, they'll come pre-built. Really, we're probably cutting a number of weeks off the project by having those walls pre-built." Once construction is moving along, O'Connell said the hope is to have those same students come back out to the site and help with putting up the interior walls as well. That, he said, will probably come down to how the construction timeline matches up with the end of the school year. Other community projects students have done in the past include building a handicapped-accessible deck for a local Make-A-Wish recipient, rebuilding the firehouse museum in Medina and building out a storage room at the Medina AmVets post to convert to a meeting room. "In the last couple of years, Habitat has approached us so we started forming a relationship with them," Mason said. "In the past, they built two houses in Brunswick — one was on Vine Street and one was on Circle Drive — and we helped them on both of those houses in a smaller capacity, just putting the shingles on the roof. That relationship has blossomed a little bit more." This year, Mason said there are 52 students in the program (28 juniors and 24 seniors) even after several decided not to continue this year due to COVID-19 concerns. He added that the program has continued to see steady growth over recent years. Mason expressed his pleasure and impression with this group of students, saying they are a group of "forward-thinking kids" and that he was excited for them to get another opportunity like this and is eager to see them continue this work beyond the career center. "We like to help the community, that's the fun part," Mason said. "The trades in general are really hurting for employees. These kids coming out of this program know more than many people in the trades already. "They know how to use all the tools; we cover every aspect of construction in here so they have a general idea of everything. They really have a great skill set and are going to be very employable when they get out of here." Contact reporter Jack Kopanski at (330) 721-4063 or jkopanski@medina-gazette.com.