Franklin High School students learn in the workplace

FRANKLIN, Wis. (CBS 58) – Construction of new homes is popping up all over the country, but the number of skilled professionals to build them is low. It’s a shortage attributed to too many retirements and not enough people replacing them. What a local developer is doing to change that.

Hailey Savasta is part of a team of students who work with professional home builders and can help put a roof on a new house today.

“Seeing the whole house come together is the best part, seeing it from a hole is just amazing,” said Hailey Savasta, Franklin High School Senior.

Just three short weeks earlier, this was it. A ribbon-cutting ceremony outside what was just a hole in the ground kicked off this housing development for Franklin High School’s upper-level construction class.

“We started doing floor beams. We did the mud bank on the outside,” Savasta said.

Savasta and 11 other students, like Miranda Gantner, start their school day on Parkview Lane, just off Ryan Road, Monday through Friday, rain or shine.

“It’s nice that the walls are finally up. You have a little shade now (smiles). What’s it like to leave here and go to school for the rest of the day? I’m glad we get extra time to shower (giggles)” said Gantner, Franklin High School senior.

Students handle all aspects of this 2,100-square-foot, four-bedroom house, including cladding, plumbing and electrical work.

“Building the exterior walls was also quite fun because you had to put all the foam on top and cut out all the openings,” Gantner said.

“I picked out the siding, door color, cabinet color and flooring, so I’m really excited to see how it all comes together,” Savasta said.

This is the Cape Crossing subdivision. New homes here cost about $600,000.

Andrew Mente brought the program to Franklin six years ago, in partnership with Tim O’Brien Homes.

“These kids earn their way into the classroom by doing well in the first construction classes and then also showing an interest in the construction trade,” said Mente, the Franklin High School construction instructor.

This is the sixth home that Mente construction students have built in Franklin.

“So they will use every tool that a contractor uses: nail guns, saws, drills, whatever it takes to build a house,” Mente said.

“Some of our students think, okay, I’m going to do plumbing and then they get experience with electricity here and they quickly find out that this is a career option that they are more interested in and what a great benefit to know that when you’re 17 or 18 years old versus in the career field and now I’m trying to change careers mid-life,” said Annalee Bennin, superintendent of Franklin Public Schools.

A victory for students, but also for the industry that depends on skilled workers.

“There is a shortage of trade workers across the country and this is a way to develop a pipeline for that for the students who are interested,” Mente said.

Mente sees that interest and nurtures it by starting younger students with smaller projects in the classroom, such as tables.

“It’s really great to see the students grow; from barely knowing how to swing a hammer to using nail guns on a roof, it’s really just a big growth experience for them,” Mente said.

And this year there has been especially increased interest from female students. Half of the twelve here are young ladies.

“I think I’m going to do something where I’m definitely working with my hands and not necessarily sitting at a desk all day,” Gantner said.

“I think it’s a great thing. I think anyone could do it. I wish more women would do it. We have six girls working together now, which is pretty cool,” Savasta said.

“It’s an excellent opportunity for twelve, but when you have about sixteen hundred students in the school, you want to expand that opportunity to more students,” Bennin says.

Franklin Public Schools will hold a referendum in November asking voters to financially support improvements, including expanding space for career and technical education.

“It’s a lot tighter. When you have this, it’s a lot easier because you have room to move,” Gantner said.

“The referendum would allow us to move it out of the basement into a more visible space and also right size it so that we have enough space, we can reduce or eliminate wait lists and give more students opportunities,” Bennin said . .

And opportunity is what this program is all about.

“This is our classroom. This is the best classroom I can give them where they can actually build a complete structure. No high school goes deeper than us and can rebuild every aspect of a house from beginning all the way to the end as there is only a dirty mess until a family comes to live there,” says Mente.

Andrew Mente says the quality work they do gets them noticed. Many of his students will get internships before they even graduate from high school.

“This is something that you can come back to many years from now, and you can, you know it’s your work. It’s beautiful, it’s just whole, it feels good,” Savasta said.