GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Some high school students in the Green Bay Area School District had a big reveal on Tuesday.
The students unveiled a brand new Downtown house they built from the ground up.
Green Bay West High School senior Lilly Roberts figured out her plan after graduation partly thanks to the Bridges Construction Program.
“I learned how to put up walls, put in flooring, drywall, and a bunch of little construction things,” said Roberts.
Students will use the skills they’ve learned putting up these walls in their future, whether that’s in education or in their own personal projects.
“I also built benches which I also learned from Frerk. I built a couple more and then started selling them to make money to buy new tools,” said Roberts.
Now, Roberts will transfer the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College credits that she’s earned from the class to UW-Stout, where she’s pursuing a degree in construction management.
Instructor Brian Frerk says Roberts fits part of his mission, for students to get a taste for the trades and other career options.
“To try and encourage students to come in and take a look at careers other than going to college,” said Frerk.
This year the 10 students, divided into two classes were able to build this new house and renovate another.
And now, there’s more interest in the Bridges Construction classes. Next year they will add another class and will take on two houses to build and renovate another.
The new houses will go up for sale through a partnership with NeighborWorks Green Bay.
“My students and I surveyed it, we put in the grade stakes, we did everything the basement went in and we built the house from there,” said Frerk.
Frerk says a lot of work goes into these builds and the students leave with a sense of accomplishment.
“How many classes can you take where in 50 years you can drive down the street and show your grandkids ‘I made this when I was a senior in high school’,” said Frerk.
“I didn’t really know what it was going to be like but it was a lot of fun getting to know people and made a lot of great friends here,” said Roberts.
This is the seventh house that’s been constructed through the bridges program.
Frerk hopes the class can continue to make an impact one student builder at a time.
NeighborWorks Green Bay says the new house will go up for sale around mid-summer.
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