Students learning as they help

CCA students make parts of a storage building for Habitat

Students at the Floyd County College and Career Academy are helping the community and putting their lessons to practical use as they work to finish up a building for Habitat for Humanity.

Construction technology students have been working on the pieces of a storage building for a local man as part of Habitat’s Brush With Kindness initiative.

Brush With Kindness helps homeowners who need help maintaining the exterior of their homes. Torri Brown, Habitat’s resource development manager, contacted Joe Carter, construction instructor at the CCA, recently and asked if his students would help out.

“We are always looking to partner with the community,” she explained. “We look at it as a win-win, because the students do some work in the community and they help us serve.”

This is the first such project they’ve asked CCA students to help with, but she hopes there will be more.

Carter said his students have been having fun putting the pieces of the building together.

“They’ve pre-built the walls, floor, panels and doors,” he explained. “We do a lot of community service here at the CCA and they love to do any kind of project we give them.”

The service is just one of the ways the CCA gets the students involved, Carter said.

“You can’t just shove a book in front of a kid and expect it to work,” he explained. “These are the children of the digital age and they need more than a textbook to keep them interested.”

Carter is proud of the fact that

when his students leave his class, they are prepared in several ways for their future.

“They leave with a transcript that they can use when applying for a job,” he said. “They have a basic knowledge of safety, tool maintenance and upkeep and at least entry level skills for any construction job. Some are more advanced than entry level.”

He also enjoys watching his students learn without even realizing it, he added.

“They learn a lot without knowing,” said Carter. “We work through classes and they put things together and then they can go out and build a wall together without any help from me.”

Kristina Wilder / Rudy Morales (from left), Zachary Rhinehart, Jonny Cruz, Michael Barackman and Jay Tumlin check to make sure one of the storage building doors is square while working at the Floyd County College and Career Academy.

Kristina Wilder / Rome News-Tribune K.J. Jeter (from left), Jonny Cruz, Stephen Mullen, Michael Barackman and Rudy Morales prepare to lift one of the walls the Floyd County College and Career Academy construction classes made for Habitat for Humanity.