Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991 TAG: 9104030335
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-11 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: JOE TENNIS/ SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: PEARISBURG LENGTH: Medium
Butch Caldwell would prefer to practice his plumbing prowess, but he said he'll settle on working with wires.
Caldwell, a senior at the Giles Vocational School, is part of a 23-student crew building two new classrooms for Macy McClaugherty Elementary School.
The yearlong project provides hands-on experience for students in the vocational school's two-year sequence of plumbing, electrical, masonry and carpentry.
"I like fooling with plumbing and stuff like that," Caldwell said.
But Caldwell can't find any pipes to fit in the classroom building. So he labors on, broadening his skills in other building trades.
Still, the bearded 18-year-old is not discouraged. This summer, he's hoping to line up a position as a pipefitter. And welding studies at New River Community College also might be in his future, he said.
Mark Jones, also 18, works alongside Caldwell, stuffing some wires into what will soon be an attic space in one of the classrooms. The two say they work together "like brothers."
Under the guidance of instructor Ed Wilson, the trade students began their building projects in a large workroom at the school. Building wooden gazebos, a barn and doghouses were all part of the aspiring craftsmen's indoor training.
Still, the students appear more content outside at a work site, dodging mud puddles, scaling scaffolds and braving the occasional rain shower.
Kenny Jones (no relation to Mark) climbed onto a scaffold with two other students, Gary Mullins and Robby Patteson, to insert a soffit underneath an overhanging roof.
The three teen-agers, part of the nine-man afternoon crew working from 12:45 to 3:15 p.m., wore orange hard-hats and protective goggles.
"I'd much rather be doing this than working inside," said Kenny Jones, 17. "It's like on-the-job training as far as I'm concerned. It's more piece-by-piece on the smaller projects. But here you learn more of the real thing."
Wilson, 56, made his living as a carpenter for more than 10 years before turning his hammer to teaching more than a decade ago.
He measures grades by a student's daily progress, attitude, attendance and skill. And, so far, this group of juniors and seniors is "one of the best I've ever had."
Wilson's class of vocational students built a three-bedroom house on a lot in the Robin Hood section of Pearisburg in 1987. The house sold for $68,500, making a small profit for the Giles County school system. The house sold again a year later, squeezing a $10,000 profit from the resale for the original buyers, Wilson said.
Before the present classroom-building project got off the ground last April, Wilson and his students were planning to create another house. But those plans changed when word surfaced about a need for more classroom space.
However, another house soon will be rising from the hands of the students.
After the final nail is driven on the classroom project in mid-April and a building company moves the structure to the elementary school, the vocational students will be busy building another house, this one 1,350 square feet.
Wilson is looking forward to it. "Building houses is the best project," he said. "You get everything - brick, plumbing, electrical and masonry."
by CNB