Big lessons in small packages

ONEIDA, N.Y. >> The City of Oneida School District is tapping a national movement to give students real-life skills in a project that is captivates the imagination.

Dubbed the Tiny House Project, OHS students and instructors are teaming with Bill Rockhill, from Bear Creek Tiny Houses, to build the district’s own tiny house.

Launched in January, the project involves students from several departments. Civil engineering students are designing the tiny house, carpentry students are building the tiny house, and students in video class are capturing the entire process for a documentary.

“You can’t beat the hands-on experience taking a tiny house from the design phase all the way to a finished product,” said OHS technology instructor Bob Straczuk. “We’ve already got started drilling holes for the water and electrical, and setting up jigs. The students are getting life skills that can’t be duplicated.

As part of the project, OHS is inviting members of the public to an informational meeting on Wednesday, April 5, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the high school. At the meeting, several OHS instructors working with students on the project and Rockhill, who has been featured on HGTV and the Travel Channel in television programs such as “The House Hunters” and “Extreme RV,” will present about the project. Additionally, OHS video students, under the tutelage of Pete Gillander and award winning documentary producer Rick Lewis, will be in attendance to collect interviews and film the meeting.

“This is exciting,” said OHS civil engineering instructor Dave Wright. “Parents stop me in the grocery store and say ‘my kids are excited to go to school today’ because of the we’re working on this proj-

ect. [Students] are asking in depth questions and what the next step is.”

The tiny house project is being produced at OHS in conjunction with Bear Creek Tiny House Big Stories owners, Rockhill and Lewis, who have been working with different schools over the past year, consulting high school and college STEAM programs in building tiny houses and documenting the process.

The OHS tiny house that students are working on will be on display in its early construction phase.

Attendees are encouraged to bring questions to ask during the presentations and the Q&A session scheduled to follow the Wednesday, April 5 meeting.

COURTESY OF ONEIDA HIGH SCHOOL OHS Technology teacher Robert Straczuk and students pre-building components to the tiny house.

COURTESY OF ONEIDA HIGH SCHOOL OHS Technology teacher Robert Straczuk and students pre-building components to the tiny house.