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Building a class in �home� schooling Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Eagle Point High School senior Louis Diaz sands cabinet doors in the kitchen of a home across the street from the school. The house is being remodeled as part of a class taught by Cy Carrigan, a teacher and contractor who teaches teens who benefit from hands-on learning. Eagle Point teens lay foundation of construction skills By Melissa Martin EAGLE POINT � Their classroom is a flood-damaged home, their school supplies Skil saws, sanders and putty. Students in a construction class at Eagle Point High School are learning carpentry skills as they turn a nearly discarded dwelling into an affordable three-bedroom home. "I like to be outside instead of in the classroom and I�m getting skills that I might need later," said Rachel Hansen, a 17-year-old Eagle Point senior. "It might open up a job opportunity for me this summer." �Blue House� open to public this morning The Blue House Project will hold an open house at 10 a.m. today. Folks can watch the students work on the house at 205 Napa St. in Eagle Point. At 11 a.m., there will be an open house at 115 W. Fourth St. in Medford, where North and South Medford high school students are remodeling a house. At noon, another Medford student project will be open at 417 Kenwood Ave., which is being offered for sale to families with qualifying incomes. For more information, call Ron Demele, executive director of the Rogue Valley Community Development Corporation, a group that works to create affordable housing. His number is 734-2355. The students are remodeling a home that used to be on the banks of Little Butte Creek. It was moved to Napa Street, near the high school, after a federal program compensated the previous owner�s loss during the New Year�s Day flood of 1997. Called the Blue House Project, the endeavor is sponsored by the city of Eagle Point and Rogue Valley Community Development Corporation. While the project is a first for Eagle Point, South and North Medford high schools have been operating a similar program since 1996. The house is now a classroom for 16-year-olds Maximo Serna and Florencio Cabrera. "I�ve learned how to build a closet, (hang) sheetrock, work on the roof and run wiring from the attic," said Cabrera, an Eagle Point junior. Sophomore Anthony Velasquez, 16, said the hardest part was crawling through spider webs and cat droppings to lay insulation under the house. "I think it will help me know how to work with my dad, who is a builder," Velasquez said. The student crew also is remodeling the interior � everything from adding "belly boards" to hide the moving scars to building a deck out front and restoring kitchen cabinets, said teacher Cy Carrigan. And students used their math skills to calculate how much backfill was needed around the foundation and how much linoleum to order for the kitchen. They work 8 to 11:30 a.m. Monday through Friday and punch a "timecard" � writing a summary sentence in a notebook at the end of each day. "It makes them accountable for their work," said Carrigan, who is also a licensed contractor. They also will have a final exam over construction terminology. The construction-site classroom provides a way to capture the interest of students who don�t learn by the book, Carrigan said. "The kids here are not athletes or Brain Bowlers. They are not musically involved and they haven�t found a groove or a niche," Carrigan said. "They like to work hard and they like hands-on learning, rather than reading a textbook." Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.