In early January, Advanced Woodworking students and the Construction Science Club will come together to work on the third annual playhouse build for the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City Parade of Playhouses. All playhouses, including this one will be auctioned off to help support funding for STEM education in Kansas City.

   “The building process was definitely my favorite part,” junior Zachary Walker said. “We met a lot of great people while having a great time and some of the companies we worked with even offered to hire us or help us get into a trade after high school.”

   Several weeks ago, the project received two $2,000 dollar grants, one from the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City Futures Fund and the other from the Liberty Education Foundation. The grants will go towards more quality materials and other build costs. The students working on the project will partner with local companies such as Owen Lumber and Denizen Lighting who willl either help with the build itself or provide funding towards certain aspects of the playhouse that their company specializes in.

   “The biggest thing I learned was how to frame a house,” Walker said. “Even though it was a tiny house, there were still a lot of complicated parts. Even though we messed up sometimes, I liked how we were able to solve those mistakes.”

 Advanced Woodworking teacher and Construction Science Club sponsor Josh Jacobs, who is supervising the project, hopes to get other practical art clubs involved to improve the final product and expand on the usual number of 20-30 students who partake in the build each year. 

   “Students learn skills such as how to use commonly used tools in the building and home maintenance process and they also develop an understanding of how and why homes are built a certain way which will help them when they own a home someday,” Jacobs said.

   The build will only be available to students in Advanced Woodworking or in the clubs Jacobs aims to incorporate into the building process, however, Advanced Woodworking is only available to students who have taken Intro to Woodworking as a prerequisite. The playhouses will be on display at Union Station for the public to see during the second week of April. To learn more about the contest, visit https://kchba.org/ or for more information on the available Industrial Technology classes at LHS, visit https://www.lps53.org/Page/6556.