Construction Academy builds toward future as BCSD program receives $11,080 in scholarship funding. The Residential Construction Academy at Wood River and Carey high schools gives students a chance for some hands-on learning, building real houses out in the community.
Last Friday, on the corner of Winterhaven and Woodside in Hailey, the community came back to lend a helping hand of its own.
Franklin Building Supply, working with nine local contractors, presented the program with a $10,000 check to help fund scholarships to students pursuing careers in construction management after high school. The Blaine County Education Foundation also pitched in $1,180 of its money.
“I feel like a proud mom right now,” said Franklin Building’s Jenny Linch, who organized the fundraising events. “This is phenomenal.”
On a sunny and cold afternoon, Wood River students took a break from their work to take the check, and then they got back to it.
Led by teacher Greg Urbany, more than 50 Wood River students are building their third house in Hailey, learning on the way. In Carey, Greg Carlson’s program of 20 or so is working on its sixth.
“This is a celebration—a collaboration between the community, the district and the professionals who came together to support this program,” said Sue Woodyard, who along with her late husband, Jim, helped found the academy in 1999. “We hope you go to school, and come back to build in this valley. There are 150 occupations that touch a house, and we have a real, desperate need for all of them.”