RMPBS News
Tiny home, big education
2/20/2025 | 2m 23sVideo has Closed Captions
High school students in rural Colorado are building tiny homes to learn construction trades.
High school students in rural Colorado school districts are building tiny homes to gain valuable work experience.
RMPBS News is a local public television program presented by RMPBS
RMPBS News
Tiny home, big education
2/20/2025 | 2m 23sVideo has Closed Captions
High school students in rural Colorado school districts are building tiny homes to gain valuable work experience.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorshipAt Grand Valley High School in Parachute most days are windy.
We've had many different tarp designs.
Its a concern, when building a tiny home behind the school.
With the short times that we have to work on it we do get a lot done.
It's been a precise process.
That's just one of the ways these students are learning in this career technical education program.
They're actually in the process theyre problem solving all the way through.
The class that we're doing outside is a construction class and we just call it tiny house construction.
That's LeRoy Gutierrez.
We call him Mr. G. He was retired from education Its just kind of fun you get a splinter once in a while.
But came back to teach this class at Grand Valley High School.
EPIC is educational Pathways to Innovative Careers thats our branding for career technical education for students across this region.
Scott Cooper runs the tiny home program at schools from Meeker to Summit County.
We wanted to steer students towards career pathways that they could graduate with industry credentials in and they could land jobs and careers in that would pay a living wage in this area.
From DeBeque, Parachute all the way Glenwood Springs up in Aspen, and all that area there's actually a shortage of a workforce.
When we get kids that are looking for summer jobs, we can actually say, hey they can actually measure, read a tape to the fractions they can cut straight.
This has already helped me line up a job for the summer in construction.
Junior Sione Clegg was interested in welding but after a month of the tiny home class Ive been working on the siding.
found construction is a perfect fit.
I love the valley, and I think I could work here and build homes all through here for the rest of my life.
The tiny house is actually the tool for the learning.
Ours is a little slower paced, we're really practicing the safety and kids are learning those skills.
Yeah, probably a 16th It feels like a lot, but you have to apply that stuff to keep yourself and others safe.
They meet fire code, they meet the structural code everything you need so that you feel good about the finished product when you sell it.
Aspen High School bought their tiny home right away as soon as they started building it for teacher housing.
The program has finished two tiny homes with two more set to be done this year.
It sort of just openes your eyes to different possibilities.
RMPBS News is a local public television program presented by RMPBS