“All that was here when we started at the beginning of the school year was the frame of the house. Now look at it,” remarked one carpentry student to another during a site visit in mid-March.
Carpentry students are among the dozens of Technical and Career Education (TCE) Center students from various career strands who are constructing a single-family home with the help of their TCE instructors and other professionals in the community.
When completed, the house located at 1909 Evar Place will be sold with all proceeds benefiting the Virginia Beach Education Foundation (VBEF). It is the 10th single-family dwelling TCE students have helped construct through the VBEF program The House Students Built.
Those involved with the project recently marked their calendars for June 8, the scheduled date for the house dedication.
“Oh, it will be ready,” says Andrea Tomlin when asked if the house will be completed by then. “It has to be ready,” she adds with a laugh.
Tomlin, a TCE instructor and House Project site coordinator, points to all the activity around the site, including students clearing masonry debris and working on two-story scaffolding.
“You see the carpentry students are preparing to build that fence,” she says. “Masonry students are working with Mr. McDaniel on the second story. Donated cabinets are supposed to arrive soon, and the tile is complete.”
“You should take a look inside at the tile,” Tomlin encourages. “It’s beautiful, and it was all donated.”
The tile is one of several in-kind donations that benefit the VBEF house project because they help defray construction expenses, thus increasing the net profit from the home’s sale to support the Foundation’s Adopt A+ Grants and other programs.
Mosaic Tile donated tile for all of the home’s bathrooms, laundry room and fireplace. Westar Roofing Corporation donated the shingle roof valued at $11,000. A geothermal well for the house was donated by Toano Wells. And Damuth Trane made a financial donation that covered the cost of the home’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system.
Tomlin is looking forward to bringing her landscape design and management students to the site as one of the final steps in the process. Until then, they are counting the days until the home is unveiled at its dedication June 8.
“We’ll be out here every day we can be,” Tomlin says. “Rain or shine. There is plenty of work to do.”
Visit vbef.org to learn more about the Virginia Beach Education Foundation’s programs and special events.