Habitat hits nail on head

A group of Choffin seniors is constructing a Habitat for Humanity house.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Bryant Bailey and Eric Sheffield think actually building a house offers much better carpentry training than just working on some small projects in the high school shop.
So does their teacher.
Kevin Sinkele teaches carpentry at Choffin Career & amp; Technical Center, and he said he was just looking for a better way to teach his students that type of work when he decided to call Mahoning County Habitat for Humanity and offer the services of his senior carpentry class.
Habitat jumped at the chance to bring in some free skilled labor, said Brian Burick, executive director. His agency offered Sinkele's class a chance to work on a 1,200-square-foot Habitat house being built at Atkinson Avenue and Lansdowne Boulevard.
"This group is unique. They've taken over the construction of the building," Burick said.
"It looks great, so far. I'd give them an 'A.'"
Bailey, 18, and Sheffield, 17, are seniors at Choffin and plan to pursue carpentry as a career.
Rare opportunity
Getting hands-on experience at a real construction site is invaluable, they said. It doesn't compare with building small projects in the school shop.
"I like this way better. It's more of a learning experience," Sheffield said.
"We see what we build. If we make mistakes, the teacher can correct us," Bailey added.
Sinkele, a member of Carpenters & amp; Joiners Union Local 171, who took a teaching job at Choffin three years ago, said his class of 12 seniors spends part of every afternoon at the site, weather permitting, and 75 percent of them volunteer to show up Saturday as well.
Recently, nearly the entire class was on the roof, putting on shingles.
"They're really doing a good job," said Ken Rhodes, Habitat's construction coordinator, as he watched the students move about the roof.
"We kind of adopted the house. We are doing 90 percent of it. We pre-fabbed all the walls in our shop at the start of school," Sinkele said.
Documentary planned
The building project also created a project for Choffin's audio-visual program. Some of those students are taking photos and videos of the work, intending to create a documentary of the project, Sinkele said.
The plumbing, electrical and heating work on the house will be done by local trade union apprentices, but the carpentry is all Choffin students. Habitat supplies the materials.
"It's a great learning tool for them," Sinkele said. "We plan on doing this every year with our seniors. Most of my kids love it. It's a great experience for them."
The students put up the wall frames and roof trusses in a single day, Burick said.
Habitat, which is building about five houses a year in Mahoning County, seeks partnerships like this with the community. This partnership is particularly great because it brings in labor with carpentry skills, he said.
Sinkele said he plans to have his seniors do one house a year as a class project. The students also will help out with construction on other Habitat houses, he said.
"We're glad to have them," Burick said.
gwin@vindy.com