GREENBACK, Tenn. — Students in Greenback took a school project to the next level by building a 1,450-square-foot house from scratch on school grounds, as part of their residential construction class.
Their teacher, Gray Williams, said he pitched the idea to use some recent grant money for the school's career technical education program, teaching 25 students how to build a house.
"This was a great project," Williams said. "They were so excited to be here every day. If you can get kids to come to school every day and work, you're doing something right."
Williams said career technical education is highly encouraged within Loudon County Schools, and options for classes involving the subjects start in middle school.
"If you don't have someone to fix your cars or build your houses, we can't progress as a society," Williams said.
Students like sophomores Jonas Fennema, Cade Breedlove and Eli Ward said they were especially excited to see a finished project after they had started construction of the house around a year ago when they were freshmen.
"It's really cool to know that somebody's going to be able to reap the reward of building the house and have their family in it," Breedlove said.
Williams said they spent around $70,000 to build the house.
Maryville couple John and Betty Train placed a bid on the house Saturday, for a final price of $140,000. Williams said the extra money would go back into the program to build another house.
The Train's daughter, Jennifer Barry, and her family moved from Long Island to Greenback a few years ago and the new house will sit on their property. Barry said her mother's health has recently declined, and they will be happy to be nearby to help her mom and dad when they need it.
"My mom is my best friend. So it will be so nice my kids will get off the bus and run over to grandma and grandpa's house," Barry said.