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ISHPEMING, Mich. (AP) — Students in Ishpeming High School's geometry in construction class have started the year by putting lessons learned in their classroom to practical use.
They are beginning preliminary work on a project to rehabilitate a house across from the high school. Students and community leaders broke ground in December on the two-year project, according to The Mining Journal (http://bit.ly/1OKA0TH ).
Marquette County Treasurer Anne Giroux said the Marquette County Land Bank Authority acquired the building, formerly a two apartment structure, for the project.
The Cliffs/Eagle Mine Fund via the Community Foundation of Marquette County has provided a $50,000 grant toward completion of the project.
Course instructor Nate McFarren said the Ishpeming High School class will conduct many of its labs inside the building to demonstrate different elements of geometry in each phase of the building's rehabilitation.
McFarren teaches two different classes, a beginner course and an advanced course. He said he wants to generate more interest in this type of class statewide because the students seem receptive to the idea.
He said the beginner group will be doing a lot of the deconstruction on the structure, and will spend more time in the classroom on basic concepts.
"This class in particular, they do a lot of concept-based projects from their geometry lessons and try to turn it into a construction lesson," McFarren said. "For instance, today they are doing barricades and sawhorses. They learn how to use the speed square and figuring out angles, both in the shop and in the classroom."
Student Linsey Giraud said she is looking forward to everything about the class.
"My dad was a construction worker when I was smaller. I took this class so that I would be able to learn about general construction because that house that we are working on may tell us what we want to be, maybe a contractor," Giraud said.
McFarren said he believes the class and the project will help the students in a variety of ways.
"I think that this is a working community, that a lot of them can either get summer jobs easily from programs like this or eventually it may be something that they can earn their living by or a jump start to maybe earn a little bit more because they are higher skilled than some other entry level workers," he said.
Student Dondre Yohe said he looks forward to getting into the structure to gain knowledge in the field, and is grateful for the opportunity.
"It will teach us about applying geometry concepts to woodworking and basic construction skills. I look forward to being able to translate this to applying geometry concepts to basic woodworking," Yohe said.
Giroux said McFarren and his students will not be going it alone.
"We have an architect, John Larson. Mike Lempinen will be our designer and Ron Grochowsky will act as the engineer overseeing the construction," Giroux said. "All of these people are donating their time, which I think is a great thing."
She added other community members and businesses have already stepped up to help out with materials.
Giroux said the authority would like to see the project be self-sustaining.
"Once construction is completed, we are hoping to sell the home to a family and use the proceeds to purchase another house for students to work on," she said.
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Information from: The Mining Journal, http://www.miningjournal.net
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