NEWS

Students at the Community School of Davidson (CSD) devoted a year to practical group projects that benefit affordable housing neighbors

Nearly every Friday during the 2023-2024 school year, a group of high school students from Community School of Davidson showed up in hard hats to the Sloan Street office of Davidson Housing Coalition (DHC). They were there to tackle a range of projects, big and small, all designed to make improvements for the benefit of the residents of DHC’s affordable housing communities. “Shop class” is a somewhat antiquated term, but the idea is familiar: an educational course that teaches real world skills in building and trade. The CSD course is called EMPOWERed Trades, and these students honed their skills by moving out of a shop and into the real world.

The culminating project of the year was to design, plan, and build a large wooden mailbox shelter for DHC’s Creekside neighborhood. The covered wooden structure the students built is intended to shelter a new bank of community mailboxes that has been installed for Creekside neighbors. A shared community mailbox located in the center of the Creekside neighborhood will foster connections between neighbors. The ability to have mail delivered directly to the neighborhood also saves neighbors time and the cost of renting their own P.O. Box.

The students were supervised and mentored by their teacher, Jeff Hinton, Joe Grainda, and a team from Grainda Builders.

The construction professionals at Grainda Builders gave the students an authentic glimpse into the building profession by providing hands-on instruction. One of those professionals, Jay Fesperman, Grainda’s Vice President of Construction, is a member of CSD’s Class of 2014. Having professional builders on-site also ensured that that all the students’ efforts conformed to safety standards.

The project has showcased the students’ skills, their teamwork, and their dedication. They showed up to work on the mailbox project every Friday for several months. The energetic group of juniors and seniors even showed up on their Prom Day, which was a day off at their school. They worked for nearly eight hours on the next to last day of school to finish the structure.

On Friday, May 17, the same day that they were finishing up the roofing for the structure, the students hosted a cookout for the Creekside neighbors and the DHC Board. Nearing lunchtime on Friday, the young workers were still adding the finishing touches to the roofing as the hamburgers and hotdogs were grilling. They climbed down from their ladders and scaffolding to introduce themselves warmly to the DHC Board members and to the residents of the Creekside community.

Residents became accustomed to the students scurrying around their neighborhood carrying tools and materials. They ate quickly and efficiently at the barbecue, as teenagers do, and then climbed back up to resume work until the job was done. On Thursday morning, May 23, DHC maintenance supervisor, Brad Beaulieu, and his team, installed the new communal mailboxes to complete the project.