Students recognized for helping build home

Students from Carlton Comprehensive Carpentry Apprenticeship class were recognized for their semester of hard work building a home with Habitat for Humanity.

The students had been constructing the building since September and had wrapped up the construction of the building in January.

It was part of an initiative to give students a chance to gain experience in carpentry and construction and also give Habitat extra help to provide more homes to more families.

A dinner was hosted in honour of the students and each was presented with an engraved hammer and a certificate commemorating their accomplishment.

“I’m very proud of this class. We not only built a house, we built a home. We gained on so many levels,” said the class’ carpentry teacher Patrick Helgason.

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“This has been a life learning experience and I’m sure the children will cherish it for the rest of their lives.”

For student Ryan Dewhurst, it truly was a life changing experience. He said class was the reason he decided to pursue a career in carpentry.

“It feels great, building a home from them and learning from the experience and making a few good friends,” said Dewhurst.

“I plan on becoming a carpenter when I graduate from school and this gave me all the experience I need to go on a job site. I was always learning towards trades but from doing this, it’s 100 per cent now.”

The home was built for Garrett and Ann Wall who were present at the dinner. Garrett said he was grateful both that Habitat for Humanity could provide a home for them and also that students were given a chance at a solid career form the experience.

“It’ll feel nice to own a house instead of renting. Without the students … we couldn’t’ have got it done any quicker. It’s definitely been a good experience for them and I’d like to see another one done with them,” he said.

That the students helped at all was a boon for the organization said president Morris Sawchuk. He said with their help they were able to commit to building more houses in the future and ultimately helping for families.

“It’s overwhelming actually. What’s totally impressed me is that they built a house in one semester,” he said. “It’s a tremendous relationship. Our community is only capable of two houses with volunteers but this allows us to increase our capacity.”

While the students have completed their work on the structure, the Wall’s haven’t moved in yet.

There’s still a few parts of the house require tradespeople to come in and install, but they’re hoping to move in within the month.

adesouza@panow.com