(by Zane Razzaq – Metrowest Daily News)
Russell Mangsen circled the structure of a 560-square-foot house standing in the carpentry studio at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School Monday morning.
Hoisted high in his arms was a laptop providing a live video feed to a formerly homeless military veteran in Maine. Come late fall, the “tiny house” will be trucked to Cherryfield, Maine, and placed on a foundation, ready to be the unnamed veteran’s new home.
“I’ll walk outside too, so you can see the door,” said Mangsen, the director of technical programs, to the feed. “Because I still don’t know how we’re going to get it through.”
Since May, carpentry students at Assabet have been hard at work constructing the home under the instruction of lead carpentry teacher Bill Italiano. The project is a collaboration between Assabet, Downeast Community Partners, the Maine Seacoast Mission, and the C.F. Adams Foundation, which is funding the project.
Scott Shaw, the housing rehabilitation program manager at Maine Seacoast Mission, said the project’s been in the works for several years. A partnership started around 2013, when a group of Assabet students began volunteering in the nonprofit organization’s housing rehabilitation program during spring break every year.
Along the way, the idea of building a tiny house for a veteran was born. Monday marked the first time he’s seen the house in person.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Shaw. “We’ve been talking about doing this forever.”
For most of the 10th-graders, including 15-year-old sophomore Joseph Cristobal, the home is the biggest project they’ve taken on. It got off to a rough start, said Joseph, with the project initially held up by unexpected delays. Keeping him going was remembering that the house would soon provide a homeless veteran with a new home.
“Working on this has been a privilege,” said Joseph. “Nailing wood in to form a tiny house for a veteran, it feels amazing.”
Next, students from the plumbing program will outfit the house with piping for a toilet, shower, sink, and bathtub, said Principal Mark Hollick. Electrician students are up next, to get the house equipped with the proper wiring, followed by HVAC students to prepare the house with heating and air conditioning. In all, the project will involve eight student programs at Assabet, out of the 17 the school offers.
“It’s a great learning experience for two reasons: the students are doing everything themselves and it benefits someone in need,” said Hollick.
Dale Basher, the operations manager at Downeast Community Partners, said the plan is to construct other tiny houses for military veterans and others in need. Hollick said he’d like to explore building them for people locally.
“It’s a pilot that can be duplicated,” said Basher.
Nathan Lynch, 16, called the experience “probably the best feeling you could ever have.”
“Once you’re told you’re going to build a house, you’re like, ‘Oh my God,’” said Lynch. “But it gets easier. You get used to the notion of building something bigger than yourself.