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Students to Build Habitat for Humanity House
*Kickoff Set for September 8 at the Building Site
As part of a new curriculum in Pueblo City Schools, students will partner
with Habitat for Humanity to build a house this school year.
A program kickoff is scheduled for 10:00 am on Monday, September 8 at the
home site of 2423 W. 19th Street, Pueblo. The recipient of the home, Erica
Palacio and her two children, will be joining the construction students and
teachers, Habitat for Humanity representatives and major business partners from
the Pueblo Home builders association and Polysteel of the Southwest for the
kickoff and will be available for interviews.
One of the goals of the community led Strategic Plan is to increase student
career and vocational opportunities in order to better prepare those students
enrolled in the programs for professions upon leaving high school. To that end -
in addition to the existing 14 career paths in such professions as automotive
technology, health fields, engineering and manufacturing technology,
communications and business - a new curriculum has been developed called
Construction Technology.
The Construction Technology curriculum will offer students a
multi-disciplined approach to careers in the building trades. Courses include:
exploration of construction trades, the safe use of hand tools, wood frame
construction, blue print reading, freehand lettering and sketching, drawing
isometric, oblique, orthographic projections, and sectional views of objects;
basic mechanical engineering drawing, as well as introduction to architectural
design; computer aided drafting and design (CAD), Auto Cad software commands and
operations, machine drawing, civil drawing, and residential and commercial
architectural drawing.
All Construction Technology courses are based on current practices within the
construction industry. This will enable students, upon graduation, to directly
pursue a construction career.
An innovative component of the Construction Technology III course, is that
students will be required to work with Habitat for Humanity actually building
houses in Pueblo. This is not only a unique opportunity for student to gain
hands-on experience in a valued profession that hopefully will lead to broad
career options – but these students will be giving back to their community in a
meaningful way with rewards that may lead to a lifetime of volunteerism.
A total of 60 students are enrolled at Central, Centennial, East and South
high schools. The teachers for the program are Gene Tapia/South; Mike
Palumbo/Centennial; Rusty Imes/Central and Rick Willits/East.
The Pueblo Home Builders and Polysteel of the Southwest are partnering with
the district and Habitat for Humanity in providing building materials and
professional support.
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