In Parachute, a tiny home provides a big education
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PARACHUTE, Colo. — Every day is windy at Grand Valley High School.
Weathering the elements is one of many ways Connor McClees is learning problem solving skills and how to work with his classmates as they build a 300 square-foot tiny home behind their school.
“The main thing is just communication with everyone. So, out here, you don't want to be arguing when it's already cold and windy,” said McClees, a senior at Grand Valley.
The house — well on it’s way to looking like a home — is partially protected by a large tent. But the wind that crushes through the valley is still a hassle as students measure and cut the cedar boards that make up the siding of the house, giving it a warm, comfortable look that complements the structure’s modern lines and triangle windows.
The one bed, one bath, 288-square-foot tiny home will be listed below market value because there is no labor cost for the work coming out of the construction class when they put it on the market. This build started two years ago as part of a program to teach students trades like construction and electrical work, and as a novel solution to housing shortages in the region. Tiny home projects at other high schools, like one in Summit County, were finished in half that time thanks to help from industry partners.
“The tiny house is actually the tool for learning, and there's just been a lot of that going on. Ours is a little slower paced, but we're really practicing safety,” said LeRoy Gutierrez, the instructor of the tiny house construction class at Grand Valley High School.
Video: Joshua Vorse, Rocky Mountain PBS
Tiny homes are increasingly common in Colorado. The homes are sometimes used to house people experiencing homelessness, but are also becoming a popular option for educators, ski industry employees and other workers whose wages haven’t kept up with increasing home prices in the state.
In December of last year, the average sale price of a single family home in Parachute and nearby Battlement Mesa was $452,333, according to a report from the Glenwood Springs Association of Realtors. As of last month, there were 10 homes for sale, down from 18 in January 2024.
McClees and the other students worked out of a tool trailer with a teal and black logo on the side that read “EPIC.” The acronym stands for Educational Pathways to Innovative Careers, a career technical education program at high schools in the region that ranges from De Beque to the Roaring Fork Valley.
Gutierrez had retired from education, but came back to teach the class after getting hooked on the idea of teaching construction skills to high schoolers as preparation for summer jobs in construction and potential careers in a field that currently has a shortage of workers.
According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, “the construction industry in the United States has faced a significant shortage of skilled labor” since the mid-2000s, when the Great Recession saw a precipitous decline in workers in the construction trade.
“They can actually measure, read a tape to the fractions, they can cut straight, they know their basic safety,” said Gutierrez of the dozen students in the construction class. Currently, it’s mostly juniors and seniors in the class, with one sophomore, but many of the students have been in the class since last year, Gutierrez said.
Sione Clegg, a junior at Grand Valley, has a job in construction lined up for this summer after giving the tiny home class a try, saying that it just clicked.
“I think I could work here and build homes all through here for the rest of my life,” Clegg said.
Clegg and McClees are two of 350,000 learners participating in career technical education (CTE) programs in the state, according to a report from the Colorado Workforce Development Council.
“Our students are learning the skills of construction. They're making connections with construction industry partners, getting work based learning experience, and they're building tiny homes,” said Scott Cooper, EPIC program director.
Cooper runs the CTE programs at about a dozen high schools in western Colorado, piecing together funding from school districts, grants and community partners who donate time or materials to classes in different career paths including construction, automotive, and cyber security.
“We wanted to steer students towards career pathways that they could graduate with industry credentials in and they could land jobs and careers and that would pay a living wage in this area,” he said.
The program is one of many administered through the Colorado River BOCES (board of cooperative education services), an organization of rural school districts that pools resources in order to cover costly teacher certifications, and implement job training classes that would otherwise be too expensive for one school to do alone.
Grants from the state and federal government, such as a $1.5 million from the Colorado Office of Economic Development, keep the programs going. The tiny home class is self-sustaining— when the homes are sold, the money goes back into the program for materials and tools for the next house.
Materials for each build, including a custom trailer made in Olathe, cost about $40,000. The tiny homes built by students sell for less than $100,000.
High school students in Aspen and Summit County completed tiny homes through the EPIC program. Summit High School finished theirs in May of 2024, and the one in Aspen is getting finishing touches this spring. A tiny home at Roaring Fork High School, and the one in Parachute, are set to be completed this year.
“Ideally, these are designed and built for affordable housing in the region. Aspen High School bought their tiny home right away as soon as they started building it for teacher housing,” said Cooper.
Cooper says nearly 800 students are taking CTE classes at different schools in the EPIC program around the state.
McClees got interested in electrical work while building the tiny home over the last two years, and plans to become an electrician apprentice in Glenwood Springs once he graduates.
“[The class] just opens your eyes to different possibilities,” he said.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
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