Education + Training

Indiana High School Students Gain Construction Experience Building a Home

High schoolers get hands-on experience in the skilled trades thanks to a construction program run by the Central Nine Career Center in Johnson County
Jan. 12, 2024

Current and past students in Central Nine Career Center's Construction Trades program in Johnson County, Ind., are celebrating having completed the build of a new four-bedroom home, complete with a downstairs living area and theater room, in Greenwood, Ind. The home sold in late 2023 for $455,000, WRTV Indianapolis reports.

Students worked on the house for two years and had a hand in each step of its construction. In addition to learning different aspects of home building and gaining skills, students also earned certifications while in the class, and since C9 has an agreement that students in the program can join apprenticeships and skip the first year, students get a jumpstart in construction careers before even graduating from high school.

For C9 instructor, Frank Wormann, the satisfaction is teaching the students valuable skills they can turn into a great career. ...

Wormann has been with C9 for nine years and in that time his students have built five houses and a training house at the C9 campus.

Several of his students go on to apprenticeships, unions, working in residential, some go on to study construction management in college, and others start their own companies.

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