<div>A tiny home built over two years by Monache High School Manufacturing and Construction Technology Academy Pathway students has found a new home in Dinuba, where a local business owner hopes the project will serve as both a functional office and a reminder of the value of investing in students.The roughly $35,000 sale of the student-built structure to Joe Dolieslager, owner of Tulare County Stockyards, marks the completion of a project that gave students hands-on experience with the skills needed to build a residential structure.The project cost approximately $38,000 to construct, with Porterville Unified School District helping fund the work. Although the project benefited from one-time funding that didn't require repayment, the district also provided financial support, and the sale proceeds are expected to reimburse the district while leaving additional funds to support future construction projects.Jared Price, a construction teacher and pathway lead at the school, said the project was already partially framed when he arrived for his first year of teaching. He spent the next two years working with students to develop the skills needed to complete the home."When I came in, the tiny house project was framed by a few other teachers, and so all we were left with was bare-bones framing," Price said.Rather than simply finishing the structure, Price used the project as an opportunity to teach students the construction process from the ground up. Much of the first year involved hands-on instruction as students learned the techniques and developed the experience needed to take on a project of that scale.The finished structure includes many of the components found in a traditional home, including heating and air conditioning, electrical work, plumbing, a toilet and shower, countertops, flooring, siding, and roofing.Students also left a personal mark on the project, writing their names on the inside of the wall studs."They left their mark," Price said. "Their names are written on the inside of the studs and things like that. And then they'll never forget it."The home was showcased in last year's Veterans Day and Christmas parades before Price advertised it through Facebook Marketplace and local buy-and-sell groups.That's where Dolieslager, who has a history of supporting student projects through his business, came across it."I wanted to buy from a student-built project," Dolieslager said. "If you don't teach students how to build something in high school, they can't get a job."Dolieslager said supporting student projects is something he has long valued, both through the stockyard's involvement with student livestock auctions and through opportunities for students to gain employment.Tulare County Stockyards works with agricultural programs throughout the region, including students from Porterville, Bakersfield and Tulare. The business also provides employment opportunities for students attending College of the Sequoias, Reedley College and Fresno State.For Dolieslager, purchasing the tiny home was another opportunity to support young people developing practical skills that can carry into the workforce.The structure will eventually serve as an office at the planned Dinuba Travel Center, a development Dolieslager described as an agriculture-focused destination featuring a farmers market, feed stores and other related businesses.For Price, seeing the home sold was a bittersweet milestone. While he was proud of what his students accomplished, he said the two-year construction timeline was longer than anticipated.The goal moving forward is to make the project a more consistent, yearlong experience. Future classes will begin construction during their junior year and finish as seniors, with the hope of eventually completing a new tiny home each year.The sale gives the program an opportunity to put that plan into motion while demonstrating what students can accomplish when classroom instruction extends beyond textbooks."It's definitely bittersweet," Price said. "It feels very accomplishing for me and my students alike."Although the tiny home is leaving the school and headed for a new destination, the skills students developed while building it will follow them long after the project is gone.</div>

Block Source: Porterville Recorder

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A tiny home built over two years by Monache High School Manufacturing and Construction Technology Academy Pathway students has found a new home in Dinuba, where a local business owner hopes the project will serve as both a functional office and a reminder of the value of investing in students.

MCTA students sell first Tiny Home

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A tiny home built over two years by Monache High School Manufacturing and Construction Technology Academy Pathway students has found a new home in Dinuba, 

MCTA students sell first Tiny Home

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