Building Trades is a Career and Technical Education (CTE) class that the school offers, which teaches students about working in home construction. Every year, this program works with Rockbridge Area Habitat for Humanity to build houses for those in need.
According to the website for Virginia CTE Resources, Building Trades started by teaching the students the basics of construction such as carpentry, masonry, electricity, and plumbing.
Bradyn Tuttle has been teaching Building Trades for seven years. He explains what learning in his class is all about.
“Building Trades handles everything in residential construction, literally from the ground up. We will do dirt work and site preparation to masonry and concrete, house-framing all the way through framing insulation drywall plumbing electrical, and then we also side step into a little commercial building and do welding and metal steel framing,” Tuttle said.
He further explains what the class is currently working on and how far along
“Right now our students are building two buildings for Habitat for Humanity. These are to be used as storage for materials. We are about 85% done. Both of them are almost done and will be sent out this school year,” Tuttle said.
Junior Chase Reynolds is a student in Tuttle’s Building Trades class this year. He explains what he and his classmates are improving on the small buildings that they are constructing.
“We are pretty far in construction of our buildings and have just installed the drywall unit. Next, we need to replace the shingles on the house,” Reynolds said.
For some, working may seem extraneous or even tiring, but for Reynolds he enjoys the class for that reason and because of his teacher.
“I really enjoy this class as I enjoy working outside and working with my hands. The teacher, Mr. Tuttle, also makes the class very enjoyable,” Reynolds says.
The Building Trades class has been working on the two small sheds since the beginning of the school year and is projected to be completed in the next couple weeks. These small buildings will benefit Rockbridge’s section for Habitat for Humanity by providing buildings to store materials.
