Science and Technology Meet Nitty Gritty!

Last week, a group of students and teachers from the Denver School of Science and Technology flew down to the Texas Bay Area to spend some time getting “down and dirty” helping to get our final house on Florida Street ready for it’s new homeowner! The group consisted of 34 high school students and 6 of their teachers.
 
A few facts about the school from which they hail:

Denver School of Science and Technology is the #1 high school in Denver!

The school is made up of a very diverse group of students and teachers of all ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. “100% of its first class of seniors was accepted into a four-year college or university last spring. The 100% acceptance rating is particularly inspiring considering the diversity of this Senior Class, which included 62% minority and 40% low income students. Additionally, 50% of this first graduating class is first generation college students.” (Facts taken from the school’s website: http://www.dsstmodel.org/) All of these students went on to continue their studies at the top schools in the nation.

Their enthusiasm and energy were hard to miss as they assisted us in working on many of the finishing touches on our last home on Florida street. Paint was spread on walls, ceilings, sheds, and clothing! The students matched the houses as they left the worksite, making them a walking testimony for the project they were working on. All of the grass was laid out in a beautiful brick pattern surrounding the house. What normally takes us up to two weekend workdays to accomplish, was done in two hours of work by this speedy group, quickly transforming the structure from a pile of assembled building materials on a construction site to a HOME.
 
The arrival of the students also marked the beginning of our transitional period from Florida Street to our new “build home” on 26th street. Old beat-up storage containers were emptied; materials were sorted and organized; good wood was transferred to the new site, and bad wood was carried away to the mulch yard. Another very cool project some of the students and teachers got to help with was learning how to lay rebar in preparation for pouring our next two concrete house slabs! They literally got to “lay the foundation” for the futures of our next two Partner Families 🙂
 
Through all of the labor intensive work, the group still took time to play! Their Art Instructor molded small, yet detailed, creations out of the clay of the earth. Here is a picture of the elephant he constructed on their second and final day with us: