The Hermiston School District’s Columbia Basin Student Homebuilders Program (CBSHP) is being considered as a program model to follow at the national level.
Alicia George, the regional field representative from the National Association of Home Builders from Washington, D.C. will visit the student built homes and speak with Curt Berger, the director of the program. The representative will be here to learn exactly how the student built home process provides real-world application, exposure, and opportunity to the diverse and economically under-served student populations in the Columbia Basin region.
The Columbia Basin Student Homebuilders Program has great partnership with the city of Hermiston, neighboring districts and has public partnerships with mentors, contractors, suppliers and program supporters to generate a self-sustaining, unique, and essential opportunity for youth. The students in the program become very involved in all facets of the process, from design, construction, oversight and marketing the residential home.
The program allows the students to earn college credit along the way through approved dual credit programs and work hand in hand with city and local officials, architects, field professionals, and engineers. Through those connections, the students learn job skills, work ethic and explore career opportunities available to them.
High school students, through five programs of study, will have the year-round opportunity to create and apply their learning through a yearlong home building cyclical process. The profits generated from the home sale provide the necessary “seed money” to replicate the program for years to come.
“I am humbled by the opportunity to showcase the work that we’ve been able to do in the Hermiston School District on behalf of our students through CBSHP,” said Curt Berger. “I am looking forward to meeting Alicia George.”
