Local high school students are hard at work building a set of eight tiny homes in Amherstview.
This is part of the Building Construction Internship Program, which provides hands-on work for students in grades 11 and 12 from across Kingston, to give them experience working in the trades.
“I enjoy the hands-on work,” says Jordan Frenette, Grade 12 student.
“I enjoy not sitting in a classroom glued to a chair and writing. It’s fun to come out and learn and be able to do stuff, put things together and build something that is actually usable for someone in the future.”
These tiny homes that the students are building will be going toward a good cause.
Each tiny home will be used for an unhoused person in Kingston, giving a helping hand to someone who needs it.
“It feels good to know that we’re making something that somebody can actually use,” says Frenette.
“It feels good to know that we are helping others while also learning for ourselves.”
Once they are finished, these eight tiny homes are expected to be placed on McCauley Street in the Rideau Heights neighbourhood.
Each home will be self-sufficient, complete with plumbing and electricity, along with a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living room.
“It’s kind of a trending thing, these tiny houses,” says Dan Fisher, a construction tech teacher at Ernestown Secondary School.
“Everybody is talking about them — you see them on TV and stuff like that. It’s pretty cool for a kid to be able to see and build these spaces, to see how those spaces are used.”
The tiny homes project was started last February by a different group of students, and with each semester, a new group comes in and picks up where the last one left off.
This group hopes that two of the tiny houses will be completed this semester, with the others finished in future terms.