At the end of the school year, we expect art shows, concerts and research projects as evidence of students’ hard work. Santa Fe College’s construction and technical students built an entire house during the 2011-12 school year.
“The project has four main partners,” said Jane Parkin, Director, Construction and Technical programs. “It’s a collaborative effort between Santa Fe’s students and staff, the Builders Association of North Central Florida, which sponsors our Apprenticeship programs, Alachua Habitat for Humanity, and the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, which donated $65,000 to Habitat for the project.”
The house is being moved Thursday, April 19 from the Perry Construction Institute to a wooded, residential lot in Robinson Heights in southeast Gainesville. The house was built indoors in two sections, which will each be lifted by a crane onto a trailer and transported to the site, then lifted by a crane onto the foundation. The house is about 1,248 square feet, and has three bedrooms and two baths.
Work on the house began last August, at the start of fall semester. Professor Fred Hart’s Construction Management Students in the Construction Techniques I and II classes and Apprenticeship students did the majority of the work.
“They followed a very strict curriculum,” Parkin said.
The house will be 100-percent completed by the end of spring semester. It still needs flooring and a front and back porch, driveway and landscaping.
The Student Builders Association and other student groups volunteered on the project, along with Habitat volunteers.
“One Saturday, we had 40 volunteers working out here,” Parkin said. “Our students went above and beyond, and really put their hearts into this project.”
On his recent visit to Santa Fe, FDOE Chancellor Rod Duckworth held up the Santa Fe II as being a national model for cooperation between education and business.
“It’s a great example of what education should look like,” Duckworth said. “It’s win win win.”
Provost Ed Bonahue mentioned that Santa Fe’s Habitat house was the college’s submission for this year’s League for Innovation competition.
“We’re not aware of any other project of this scale in the country,” Bonahue said. “In May, the League will publish an iStream article about it.”
The Habitat family who will own the house contributed 400 hours of sweat equity and will pay their mortgage to Habitat.
“It’s a hand up, not a hand out,” said Scott Winzeler, Alachua Habitat’s executive director.
Parkin said the house’s official dedication should take place in about a month, when the family is ready to move in.
The big move begins at 9 a.m. and should be finished by 11:30 a.m. The lot, at 3900 SE 13th Terrace (32641), backs up to the Gainesville Hawthorne Trail. You are welcome to watch at any point in the process.
Read Alachua Habitat for Humanity’s detailed press release