Students frame house for Habitat

For students in Tony Cosby's woodshop class, there's no gap at all between their education and real-world experience.

The class is framing a 1,400-square-foot house for the Bend chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

"This is a youth-build home," Cosby said. "The whole house (with the exception of plumbing and electrical) is supposed to be built by young kids."

The Sisters crew was to participate in standing up the walls in Bend.

The students involved learn framing skills, blueprint reading and how to solve construction problems. Perhaps more importantly, they learn teamwork and creativity that they can apply to any future line of work.

The work is more applicable and enjoyable than the average project.

"It's so much more fun," Cosby said. "A lot of times we just build little sheds. It's more fun to stand up a house that a family will live in. We've been really promoting the habitat idea, giving back to your community and that sort of thing."

Cosby said the project ended up in Bend due to timing.

"Hopefully we're going to build one for Sisters next year," he said. "The timing wasn't right. We only do this class once a year. The timing just didn't work (with Sisters Habitat for Humanity)."

The project is inspiring and satisfying to the students, although not everyone aspires to a career in construction.

"I'd like being an architect," said Nolan Peck. "I like drawing them more."