Cedar Rapids schools’ 50th student-built house already sold

CEDAR RAPIDS — Nail gun in hand, Kennedy High School senior Jacie Bedell assembled a wall for a house built by students as a part of the Cedar Rapids Community School District’s building and trades program.

Bedell, 17, was the only girl on the work last Thursday morning helping build the 50th house since the program launched in 1972. The house, at 100 Westbrook Ct., Hiawatha, has already sold.

“Kids are underestimated,” Bedell said. “When we first came in it was just concrete, and now we have walls. It’s really cool to see it coming together.”

Bedell loves being out on the job site every morning for a 90-minute class, instead of sitting at a desk and taking notes. She wants to be an electrician or welder some day.

She wishes more girls would try the program. “Societal expectations need to be broken,” she said.

The building and trades program was started 50 years ago by Louis “Dave” Rosenberg, who died in March at 89-years-old, said his wife, Harriet Rosenberg. Lewis built 21 houses with the students in the program during his time as an educator in Cedar Rapids schools. He retired in 1994.

“When Dave started building with the kids, they built the foundation and planted the flowers in the spring,” Harriet said. “When you drive around Cedar Rapids, you see homes Dave built.”

Today, up to 30 students — predominantly seniors — in Cedar Rapids high schools can enroll in the class each year. The houses they build are about 1,700 square feet and cost between $380,000 to $480,000 to build, depending on the market, said Dan Lough, Cedar Rapids student-built house instructor. Funding for the program comes from selling the houses.

“I love seeing the kids get excited about building, and getting to share with the students at the end of the year that red Skogman sold sign,” Lough said. “It’s being able to say, ‘We did it, we did it well, and someone wanted it.’”

Students are required to apply for the program, which gives students “ownership” over their education, Lough said, and must get a letter of recommendation from a teacher. Prerequisite classes include Construction 1 and 2, Woodworking 1 and 2 and welding.

There are two sections of the class that meet in the morning and afternoon for an average of three hours a day. Occasionally, the students will have a “field trip” and work on the house from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Lough said.

The district provides transportation to the job site for students who don’t have their own, Lough said. They bid out some projects like plumbing, electricity and heating and cooling to professionals who “want to teach our students,” Lough said. Lough said there are contractors who come back year after year to work with the students.

“It’s not a low-bid situation like other school projects,” Lough said. “It’s based on what education they will provide our students in conjunction with the best price we can get.”

Working on a house that has already been sold like the house in Hiawatha is a unique experience for the students, who are learning some customization, Lough said. For example, more windows were added at the request of the homeowner.

“This year’s customer is very energetic about stopping by, seeing the progress and getting the kids involved,” Lough said.

Colby Sneed, 17, a senior at Jefferson High School, said he enjoys construction work because it’s “satisfying to see hard work pay off.” When he first used a power tool as a freshman, he was a “nervous wreck,” Sneed said. “I can do it comfortably now,” he said.

Caden Holtey, 17, a senior at Kennedy High, was putting double plates on wood frame walls last Thursday to lock together intersecting walls to prevent the house from shifting, he said.

“If you do it wrong, (Lough) is going to make you do it again,” Holtey said with a smile. “We started with nothing but concrete, and now we’re standing on something that wasn’t here two weeks ago.”

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