ASHLAND — The construction technology classroom at Heartland Technical Education Center is filled with plywood, staple guns and tools, not computers, books and white boards.
The juniors and seniors in this classroom work on hands-on projects and learn skills such as carpentry, construction management, masonry and more.
When they graduate, many students will already have certification points, which reduce apprenticeship times, getting them into the workforce faster.
Right now, the students are building cabins for the Mohican Christkindlmarkt, which will debut in Loudonville on Dec. 5 from 5 to 9 p.m. on South Water Street in downtown Loudonville.
Traditional Christkindlmarkts feature lots of small, wooden cabins, where vendors sell homemade creations, treats and other goods. The tradition traces its roots to Germany.
So when Kenny Libben — curator at Cleo Redd Fisher Museum who organized the market — was trying to determine who would help construct the cabins, he thought no one would be better than the Heartland Tech students.
“I’m not a big fan of mockups and doing stuff just to stay busy. I like to work on things that are going to have a purpose,” construction technology instructor Dale Cable said.
Libben reached out to Cable six weeks ago. Cable said “Let’s do it.”
“It’s nice whenever we are free enough that we can say yes to things. It always sucks when you turn things down,” Cable said.
How are the students involved in the work?
Between Cable’s junior and senior class, he has 24 students working on the project every day.
The classes rotate on a block schedule, so one day the senior class will be in the construction lab all day, and the next day the students are in their academic classes. The same goes for the junior students.
“These guys are good kids and they take instructions well. It’s not like I’m hovering over them and telling them what to do,” Cable said.
Right now, the students have one cabin fully constructed, and they are working on each individual piece for the next cabins.
“It should be just like Legos: just putting them together,” the teacher said.
The goal is to have 12 fully constructed cabins.
“This is a little bit cutting it close, considering we have to have these done by next Thursday, and we’re kind of far off. But we’re just gonna keep moving along and we’re gonna get what we can get done. It’s a pretty decent turnaround,” Cable said.
The cabins should last for about 15 years, Cable said, but Libben already mentioned the possibility of working with the students again next year to build even more if the market is a success.
Libben purchased the raw materials for the cabins and delivered them to the students. Cable estimates the cost to be roughly $1,000 per each cabin.
Hazel Tolliver, a senior in the class has been in the program since last year. Her role has been measuring each wooden piece and cutting them to size.
“It’s not really for everybody, but I love it. I love being in here because I’m really hands-on, so I like being able to do things, especially when Dale lets us do them ourselves without coddling us,” Tolliver said.
Tolliver plans to get a job in construction after she graduates, though she is not sure a specific field or practice yet.
Mason Keener is also a senior in the class. He said the cabin construction has been his favorite project so far, despite initial inaccurate blueprints, which he said has been the only challenge in construction.
“Now we’re in the flow,” he said.
“I’m very, very proud of these students and what they do and the opportunities that they take and make their own,” Cable said.