Mansfield Senior High construction technology students are finishing a customer’s order for a potting shed complete with four windows.
Senior Shawn Searl has a specific plan for the skills he has developed in the construction technology class at Mansfield Senior High School.
“I want to buy older houses, fix them up and resell them,” he said.
Searl’s skills – along with those of 13 other juniors and seniors – are evident in the 8 feet by 16 feet potting shed the class has nearly completed for a customer who has specific plans for it.
“We put up the walls, built the floor, installed the windows and put on the roof, everything that was needed to complete it,” Searl said.
First-year instructor Tom Gompf said the shed required the construction skills demanded by larger projects. And it’s just one step in his goal for seniors.
“During the second half of my seniors’ year I want to have them in internships, actually working with contractors in paid positons on job sites,”Gompf said. “I have contractors willing to do that. I want students to be job and career ready when they graduate.”
Constructing the potting shed involved more than saws, hammers and nails. Students used their math skills to read blueprints, take measurements and make calculations.
“I had the students review the blueprints and come up with a materials list,” said Gompf, who has 30 years of experience in the lumber and construction industries. “We ordered the materials and I explained how it should be done. Then they dove in and got to work.”
Gompf’s 14 students include 12 boys and two girls.
“They have amazed me how well they have done,” he said. “They did all the framing, cut all the rafters, everything. It’s a good way for them to learn on a smaller scale many of the same skills that would be required to build a house.”
While technically a potting shed, Gompf said the customer who ordered it plans to put up interior drywall, add a stove and use it as cabin.
The class already has an order for a second potting shed. The buildings sell for about $1,500 which will be used to purchase additional supplies and materials for the class.
“Each student has their own skill area, something they are particularly good at. They all have what they like to do. I want them to broaden their horizons and expand their knowledge in all areas of construction,” Gompf said.
“I have a student who is very precise in using a miter saw to do trim work. He has the skills to become a very good trim carpenter and produce detail work, fireplace mantels, for example.”
So what’s it like to be a first-year construction technology instructor?
“I enjoy it very much,” Gompf said. “I like to share my knowledge and direction and, like I said, it’s amazing to see how well these students are doing in their work.”