Woodshop students at an Orange County junior high school are hard at work building a tiny home that they hope will ultimately help a family experiencing homelessness in their community.
As the Nicolas Junior High eighth graders prepare for that big project, their teacher, Mucio Vidales, has them scaling it down and working on an even tinier model home first.
“Right now, we’re working on a one-twelfth small scale of our tiny home that we’re going to be building here at Nicolas,” student Marina Damito told KTLA’s Chip Yost. “Right now, we’re building the insulation, the floorboards the walls, all the framing.”
Fullerton School District Assistant Superintendent Jeremy Davis said the project really started last year when the then seventh graders built a shed to understand some of the skills they would need to build a real tiny home.
The superintendent also said that the project is being funded by community partners, as well as funds from grants.
“Our goal is to not only build this,” Davis said, “but then have one of our families that are part of our school district who are experiencing homelessness live in it for a short period of time, so they can raise enough money to then move into their own place.”
Shop teacher Mr. Vidales showed KTLA the plans for the tiny home, which will have a loft area, a sleeping area and spaces for both kitchen and restroom areas.
“That’s really nice, that someone in need gets a home and we get to build it for them,” Damito said. “To know that I built that, my hands were doing that – me and all my classmates built that home for someone in need – is really awesome.”
Barring any unforeseen setbacks that could set the project back, like bad weather, the goal is to have the home completed in May.
