Contributed LEARNING A SKILL — Junior Isaac Wukelic, a student at Indian Creek High School, participates in the carpentry program at Jefferson County Joint Vocational School.

BLOOMINGDALE — The carpentry program at Jefferson County Joint Vocational School is building the foundation for a successful future one student at a time.

Instructor Dave Lucas, who is in his fifth year at the JVS, and aide Mark Starcher work with 28 juniors and seniors, guiding them through the process of measuring, cutting, nailing and transforming boards to projects small and large. Since its inception, the program has helped establish more than a half-dozen houses in the adjacent Breezewood Subdivision in addition to modular homes on the campus. Students are working on the fourth modular by building it from the ground up.

“The juniors have been building wall and floor systems and door headers and window headers for load-bearing structures,” Lucas said. “Eventually they will build the skills to build a modular home.”

He said the students must complete three Career Connections books that are used by trade unions and training facilities, including Carpenters Union Local 186 in Steubenville. The books provide projects such as birdhouses, toolboxes, picnic tables and sawhorses as the pupils work their way up to larger assignments. Lucas added that juniors follow the first two books while seniors complete the third. In addition, the students gain various safety certifications including forklift, aerial lift, scissor lift, fall protection and first aid-CPR.

“Seniors are working on the roof systems at the modular home and are doing masonry projects, drywall and insulation to the modular, then they will hang the doors and exterior windows, the exterior patio door and exterior doors,” Lucas noted. “Then they will paint, add flooring and hang cabinets to finish it.”

He added that the seniors earn points and hours to complete the third book, which focuses on industry, commercial and residential construction, and they also have a chance to move on to apprenticeships through the union and establish a successful career.

“We have an articulated agreement with Local 186, and kids collect hours and can ultimately be hired through the union,” he continued. “Seven of our students have gone on into the union.”

Meanwhile, his pupils have finished a series of service projects, from creating cutting boards and podiums to benches for the Buckeye Local Junior High School pavilion, as well as benches and picnic tables for Wayne Township.

“We’ve donated benches to the Toronto Recreation Department and made cutting boards for outside organizations as fundraisers,” Lucas said. “We’ve also helped with renovations in the JVS board room with flooring, walls, drywall and trim work, and we added walls and commercial doors in a classroom and put partition walls in the heavy equipment lab.”

He said carpentry was a growing field and he wanted to equip his students to help fill the need.

“There’s a big demand and it’s a growing industry,” Lucas commented. “The carpentry industry is definitely in demand for workers.”

And senior Luke McMillion is one of those prospects.

“It’s something I like to do. I like building and I thought it was cool,” said McMillion, a Wintersville resident who also attends Indian Creek High School. “(The training at JVS) is helping me prepare for my career.”