JACK JAMES HIGH SCHOOL
Students learn on-the-job
When it comes to learning about an industry, there’s nothing like on-the-job experience.
Students at Jack James High School have this through the Knowledge and Employability Program, an initiative supported by award-winning builder Homes by Avi that’s been running for 20 years.
Through the program, students in the construction building class are given the opportunity to play a direct role in completing a portion of a home that will later be sold.
“We’re so proud to have this part- nership, which has been going since 1998,” says Avi Amir, founder of Homes by Avi. “It’s a tradition now.
“We appreciate the fact that you’ve chosen our industry to start your career,” he said during an unveiling of this year’s completed home. “Be proud of what you’re doing, of what you’ve built with your own hands.”
Michele Konschuh, assistant principal of Jack James High School, says it’s been a meaningful program on many levels.
“It’s that connection to industry standards,” Konschuh says. “It’s also connecting them to mentors in the industry, role models as far as Avi coming out and meeting these kids and showing them that hard work will pay off and produce this opportunity to create your own successful world.
“All of our students ... are given so many life skills as far as the trades, that they have a foot up on other schools because of the opportunities that are presented through the work with Avi and Homes by Avi,” she adds.
The skills picked up by students through the program go beyond construction terminology and understanding the work tools. It’s about applying academics to navigate many of the steps needed in home building.
“The understanding of how you put mathematics into the construction of a home, how to utilize English-language skills to fill out contracts, and understand what these contracts are saying,” Konschuh says.
The students’ tasks — which included building floor structure and framing walls on the main level of the home — happen at the school, with regular visits from Homes by Avi staff for supervision, rigorous quality inspections, and to answer questions.
Their work is then moved to the lot, where the builder finishes the remainder of the home.
This year’s home, which has been sold, is the Tristan floor plan and is now part of the northeast Calgary community of Savanna in Saddle Ridge by Genstar Development Co.
The Tristan is a rear-laned, single-family home that measures 1,424 square feet.
Before the buyers take possession, the students are brought out to see the finished product, which is an important experience, Konschuh says.
“It’s that feeling that ‘I have value because I put effort into that and someone has bought it with money,’” she says. “It’s (not only) that pride of ownership in the work they’ve done but also that someone purchased it.”