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Job Corps Students Serve in Community Building Projects
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Students from the Curlew Job Corps Center worked to provide the landscaping for the new information center in Kettle Falls, Wash. | Home Builders Institute (HBI) Job Corps students have been in the spotlight this summer for their participation in building projects benefitting the local community.
When the City of Kettle Falls, Wash., budgeted $500,000 to build a new information center, it immediately reached out to the HBI landscaping program at the Curlew Job Corps Center for help.
The center was designed to boost and diversify the Kettle Falls economy with links to the area’s many recreation and tourism hot spots.
HBI instructor James Moore and 12 students were given full authority to design and execute all of the work for the project’s landscaping component, which was budgeted at $50,000. Two HBI students remained on-site at the Forest Service bunkhouse for the duration of the project; Moore brought the other 10 students to the site each day.
Over the course of the two-week project, Moore and his students built a three-foot-high, 140-foot-long wall out of quarried stone in front of the information center. The building being converted into the center was originally an old train depot, and the students built a 100-foot walking pathway on top of the rail tracks. They also laid 6,000 square feet of sod and planted hundreds of plants, shrubs and trees.
The students will return to the site later this month to build a perimeter deck, a decorative statue garden and a large rustic entrance sign.
“Your expertise and manpower in landscaping allowed our newly constructed information center to be a real asset and jewel for our town and the scenic byway,” Kettle Falls Mayor Ray Smith wrote in a letter to Moore.
“This project is part of the Kettle Falls Community Revitalization effort started several years ago,” he said, “and with the assistance of the Job Corps program we were able to reach our goal of diversifying our economy and having a direct link with recreational opportunities in our region.”
Grafton Cemetery Rededication Ceremony
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City officials and Job Corps instructors and students at the rededication ceremony for the cemetery. |
On July 11, officials in Grafton City, Mass., recognized HBI’s work on the large-scale renovation of the former Grafton State Housing Cemetery in May, when instructors Kevin Kulesza, Elliott “Butch” Nadeau and John Rodgers brought to the site 50 plumbing, carpentry, facilities maintenance and electrical students from the Grafton Job Corps Center.
During the on-site rededication ceremony earlier this month, HBI students were presented with plaques in honor of their contribution to the cemetery’s restoration.
The cemetery had been neglected for several years, with debris from fallen trees and neighboring yards accumulating on the grounds and obscuring many of its 1,000 graves.
Collectively, the Job Corps delegation spent 2,000 hours cleaning up the site. Among the graves that were uncovered were plots belonging to 14 U.S. veterans.
“It’s rewarding when the work of our Job Corps students gets recognized,” said HBI Chairman M.M. Mike Weiss. “These kids were excited to just be part of the project, but this rededication ceremony really showed them how much their work is valued. These projects are examples of the quality of work Job Corps students do and their willingness to give back through community service.”
For more information on HBI’s Job Corps programs, e-mail Keith Albright or Maria McIntyre at HBI, or call them at 800-795-7955 x8911 and x8912, respectively.
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