LAKEWOOD RANCH — Manatee High School junior Reece Jackson said he can see himself entering the residential construction industry when he graduates next year.
“That’s if there are any jobs available,” the 17-year-old student said with a smile.
On Tuesday, Jackson got a taste of what he could someday create should he land a job in that field. He was one of 18 local Future Builders of America members who took a school field trip and toured six model homes in Lake Club and Country Club East off University Parkway.
The students, from Palmetto, Manatee and Southeast high schools, are all enrolled in construction technology classes at their respective schools, and each perused the homes during a model home judging exercise.
Accompanied by teachers, students filled out judging forms as they walked through each model.
Using a scale ranging from poor to excellent, they rated each home after observing the lighting, cabinet, bedroom sizes and other features.
“Remember, don’t judge on the monetary worth of the house,” Manatee High instructor Jeff Sharp told his students as they filled out their respective checklists. “Make your decision on the quality. ... Look at the curb appeal, the walkways, the entries.”
The Future Builders of America chapter of Manatee links students in area schools with the local building community.
Throughout the year, students participate in club meetings, listen to guest speakers in the construction industry and take field trips, said Alan Anderson, executive vice-president of the Homebuilders Association Manatee-Sarasota, which sponsors FBA chapters in Manatee and Sarasota.
“This is an opportunity for these students enrolled in construction technology courses at their respective high schools to gain some experience and relate this to their classroom studies,” Anderson said. “Hopefully some of these students will be part of our future work force after they finish their education.”
Jackson said Tuesday’s trip gave his classmates a more hands-on experience.
“We usually design model homes for projects, but this gives us a chance to see the end product ... what it’s really like,” he said.
“It also helps us see how we can live if we get a good job,” Jackson’s classmate MacKenzie Kosfeld said with a laugh.
Prior to that conversation, Kosfeld, 17, had toured a $1.5 million house in Lake Club built by London Bay Homes.
“It was beautiful and well constructed,” she said of the 3,582-square-foot house called the Emilia Model. “I gave it mostly excellent ratings, but the bedrooms were kind of small.”
A few streets over in Country Club East, Neal Communities representative Laura Stauda showed another set of students around a Blue Sky Model home.
“I like the laminate floors,” said FBA member Briana Silva, 17. “They’d be easy to sweep.”
Beside her stood her classmate Chianta Rogers, 17, who was inspecting multicolored tile on the wall above a kitchen counter top.
“This is well constructed, I like this,” Rogers said as she touched the tile. “But the walkway through the kitchen is a bit restricted. Overall, it’s wonderfully built, though.”
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