Carvers Bay Carpenters: 'Opportunity of a lifetime'
Last Updated on 7/30/2010
Published on 3/26/2009
By Scott Harper
sharper@gtowntimes.com
Later this year, a local family currently in need will be living in a new home thanks to the efforts of a group of Carvers Bay High students.
The students have been busy building the house for more than two months.
The "elderly transportable unit," as it's called, is basically a mobile home that will be donated to a family once it is complete.
The thing that makes the students in Terry Cox's carpentry class -- the ones building the home --proud is the fact the house will stay in the Carvers Bay community.
The United Methodist Relief Center -- which, along with Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments and Horry-Georgetown Technical College, is overseeing the build -- promised the house would be given to a family in the school's attendance area since it is being built by students, Cox said.
He said he was told last week the recipient of the home should be named soon.
"That makes me feel good," said CBHS senior Terry Prior, one of the builders. "It shows how much we care for our community."
The roof of the home was added this week, Prior said.
A bigger project
Taking on a task of this size as teacher is a first for Cox. In recent years he has had students build things such as sheds but never a whole house.
"From the time I was hired I wanted to do something big. When I heard about this program, I said 'this is it,'" he recalled.
The build began Jan. 20 and is scheduled to be finished by sometime in August.
Cox said he has 13 students working on the house, mainly after school, and many of them will continue to work during their summer break.
Student Zachary Smith said the drier than expected weather has helped expedite the process.
"We are coming along a lot faster than we thought," he said. "We are not wasting any time."
Teaching job skills
The goal of the project is to not only help a family in need of a new home but to also teach job skills to the students.
Not only are they learning to build but are also being taught other fundamentals such as building codes and obtaining permits.
The students are being paid $8 through a Workforce Investment Act grant.
They will also receive a pre-apprenticeship certificate from HGTC, which will help them get a job after high school.
"This is very rewarding. It's an opportunity of a lifetime," Cox said.
