Did you know students in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District are building tiny homes?
They are in the building and construction trades pathway in Career Technical Education, a program of career exploration and work-based learning.
Tiny homes are increasingly considered a potential solution to housing needs, from sheltering disaster victims to creating permanent communities.
In March, Granite Construction, a $3 billion company headquartered in Watsonville, donated $50,000 to the Pajaro Valley Education Foundation, specifically for students in the building and construction trades pathway.
Erin Kuhlman, Granite chief marketing and communications officer, Ashley Stinson, Granite VP of risk management, Dr. Jennifer Holm, PVUSD Board President, Dr. Michelle Rodriguez, PVUSD superintendent of Schools, and Julie Edwards, PVUSD CTE coordinator, welcome $50,000 to support the Tiny Homes CTE project.
Ashley Stinson, Granite’s VP of risk management and chair of its Corporate Charitable Contributions Committee, said, “Today’s students will play a vital role in the skilled, educated workforce of the future, and in the economic health and wellbeing of our communities.”
Dusten Dennis, a teacher in the building and construction trades CTE pathway who also teaches AP computer science, said it is extremely meaningful for community partners like Granite to support such learning opportunities.
“It has an incredible positive, synergistic effect on our community when Granite is able to help our students by supporting a hands-on project such as building a tiny house,” Dennis said. “Many of my students expressed it was the highlight of their year, that they got to learn from the experience and were able to contribute to such a large and important project.”
Offered at Watsonville High and Aptos High, the building and construction trades courses are among 26 CTE pathways throughout the Pajaro Valley district’s high schools, ranging from biotechnology and computer science to graphic design and sustainable agriculture.
More than 3,200 students in CTE gain work and life skills while taking CTE courses where they can earn college credits while in high school.
These career-oriented courses advance student readiness whether they plan to pursue higher education, enter a training program, or go straight into the workforce.
Granite also created a paid summer internship based in Watsonville for a PVUSD student or 2023 PVUSD graduate.
One recipient, Watsonville High graduate Robert Caput, was a freshman when he first heard about the building and construction trades pathway.
“Everyone I looked up to highly suggested the class,” Caput said, “and it was one of the best decisions I have made. That class showed me more about the real world than any other.”
Caput credits teacher David Patino with giving him the foundation to secure his internship in the Small Tools Program at Granite, where he will work while attending Cabrillo College.
Granite’s Ashley Stinson said partnering with CTE benefits local businesses and industries by ensuring students have the opportunities, resources, and experiences they need to succeed in their chosen careers.
“We are helping to advance new options in education and work-based learning that ready students for the high-skill jobs that we and other employers are eager to fill here in the Pajaro Valley,” she said.
Julie Edwards, CTE coordinator for PVUSD, said the program will soon be reaching out to seek more partners.
“Local companies and organizations who become CTE partners not only enrich student learning, they gain connections to talented, motivated young people who may one day be their employees,” she said.
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- For more about Pajaro Valley Education Foundation see https://pvef.net/
- For more about Granite Construction see www.graniteconstruction.com
- For more about CTE, contact Julie Edwardsb at julie_edwards@pvusd.net
Top Photo: Granite Construction team checks out one of two tiny homes being built by Pajaro Valley students.