OAK CREEK— South Routt County High School wood shop teacher Casey Hill is standing on the ground, pointing and offering suggestions to two of seven crew members from Steamboat Springs’ Rocky Mountain Youth Corps participating in a new construction trades program.
“Start with those in the corner, and if we stack them, it should work. The farthest eave has to go on last because we have to blend where the two roofs meet,” he said.
One of his students answers: “I see what you’re saying.”
The students are part of a pioneering new corps program launched this summer in partnership with the South Routt School District and the Yampa Valley Partnership for Students, Stewardship & Sustainability. The students are from local high schools in Craig, Steamboat and Oak Creek and they’re building a tiny house as part of a program designed to teach them basic construction trade skills.
But as Hill is finding out, it sometimes takes some explaining. It’s a classroom and construction site rolled into one, with Hill serving as general contractor, teacher, parent and a few other roles.
“It’s sort of a hybrid between education and employment,” he said. “And I’m a cross between a teacher and foreman.”
During a rare cloudy and rainy day in late June at Soroco High School in Oak Creek, everyone was grateful for the reprieve from the heat. Two student crew members were on the roof and two more were on ladders caulking the side of the house. Another was on a ladder in front, and another using a Shop-Vac inside. The Doors’ “Roadhouse Blues” blared from a speaker, the playlist provided by participant Silas Setter, a junior at Steamboat Springs High School. “Usually, it’s my playlist,” said Lorrel Mahosky from the roof, a junior from Soroco High School. “But he gets mad because he doesn’t like Katy Perry.”
Thinking outside the box
Rocky Mountain Youth Corps launched the new nine-week program this June to help local youth learn vocational construction skills in a paid program that walks them through the steps of building a tiny house. The initiative arose after a difficult past year during which RMYC saw budget cuts to such longstanding partners as the U.S. National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Forest Service, decreasing the service opportunities available to its crew members.
The solution: their new Construction Trades program, which is part of area schools’ Career and Technical Education curriculum. The launch represents a slight fork in the trail from its usual service programs, which traditionally involve trail building and maintenance, wildfire mitigation, historic structure preservation, community cleanups, tree planting projects, GIS programming, hydrology and archaeology projects, beetle kill removal, and more. At its peak in 2024, RMYC served over 850 youth through its various programs, improving 1,621 acres of public lands over 235 weeklong projects.
After the house is completed, they plan to sell it and use the revenue to help fund the program in future years and cover such expenses as participant and staff wages, materials, and program operation — most of which this year is being covered by The Yampa Valley Partnership for Students, Stewardship & Sustainability.
“We’re super excited to offer this paid work-based learning opportunity for high school students in the Yampa Valley,” said RMYC Chief Operating Officer Mark Wertheimer, adding they brought on Soroco High School shop teacher Hill to serve as lead instructor. “We recruited from all our area schools for it, and the spots filled up pretty quickly.”
As rectangular as the product is, it’s a great example of thinking outside the box — or tiny house, in this case — as far as providing service opportunities for its crews.
“RMYC’s new Building Trades program is an excellent example of youth corps flexing and adapting to meet new community needs while accommodating different learning interests of youth and young adults,” said Tom Dillow, acting executive director of the Colorado Youth Corps Association, which oversees eight accredited organizations comprising the CYCA. “And this new pathway at RMYC expands program offerings in response to significant funding cuts for federal partners in an effort to continue providing opportunities for youth and young adults in the Yampa Valley.”
The key for the program was funding. The Yampa Valley Partnership for Students, Stewardship & Sustainability donated $60,000 for the pilot program, covering the wages for Hill and the seven crew members, among other things. And it dovetails as seamlessly as the crew’s caulking with their mission of facilitating paid internships for students in the valley. While they already facilitate internships at Colorado Mountain College, the Colorado Agriculture Alliance, Steamboat Springs School District, and such local companies as outdoor gear maker Big Agnes, this is the first time they’ve supported one building a home — albeit, a tiny one — from the ground up.
“It fits right in with our mission,” said Jill Henwood, the director of the Yampa Valley Partnership for Students, Stewardship & Sustainability. “And the collaborative component of it is huge. It’s super helpful to have RMYC as a partner. They bring invaluable skills in youth development and help make it accessible to more students so it’s easier to fill the program. They’re well poised to do this sort of work, and we have the funding to help support it.”
The project’s main goal is to give area youth a start-to-finish construction experience to continue possible career paths in the construction trades. The students are gaining hands-on experience in such trades as carpentry, roofing, siding, electrical, plumbing, heating, venting, drywall, interior/exterior trim, cabinetry, and other aspects of the project. Job readiness skills and activities are also included in the program, as well as interaction with local construction employers to explore future career and networking opportunities.
Dillow said that while a handful of the state’s youth corps are starting to offer different programs, this one is unique. “No other of our corps is doing anything like this,” he said. “There are corps that have construction and/or energy and water conservation programming, but they’re very different.”
He points out a Youth Build Program offered by Mile High Youth Corps, which provides on-the-job training while placing crew members in a six-month program with a stipend and an AmeriCorps education award; and two others — Larimer County Conservation Corps and Weld County Youth Conservation Corps — conducting home energy audits. Crew members from the Larimer Corps perform free home efficiency assessments for utility customers, educating them about water and energy efficiency practices.
They also assess appliances, toilets and heating and cooling systems, offering advice on rebate options and replacements, and install LED bulbs, water-conserving showerheads, stealth toilets and faucet aerators, smoke/carbon monoxide detectors, clotheslines, furnace air filters, and more. But they’re not building a home.
“RMYC’s program takes crew members from the ground up, educating them in the whole process,” he said.
The Students’ and Instructor’s Perspective
Of course, the real proof comes from what the students get out of it. When they aren’t needed elsewhere, I pull a couple into Hill’s adjacent workshop, where we sit on stools next to a table saw. Hanging from a wall are rows of welding masks, clamps, helmets and other shop tools, while band saws, ventilators, drill presses, other machinery, and lots and lots of sawdust — everything you’d expect from a high school wood shop — command the floor. They’re grateful for the break, and I ask them how it’s all going.
“It’s a great learning opportunity for the summer, and I’m getting paid for it,” shrugged Lucas Himmerit, 16, a junior at Soroco High School.
While he wasn’t exactly looking for such a program, once he heard about it, he was all in.
“It’s fun, and I’ve learned a lot about construction and framing,” he said. “And it’s nice to know what I’d be getting myself into in the future.”
Next up is Setter, 17, a junior on the mountain bike team at Steamboat Springs High School — the one with The Doors on his playlist. Long hair flowing behind his helmet, he said the program fits right in with his goals.
“I like working outside with my hands, so I thought I’d give it a shot,” he said. “When I was young, I built a lot of stuff from things like Legos and Jenga blocks, so this is pretty fun. I didn’t know any of the other kids before, but they’re great.”
His favorite part? The framing. The hardest? “Learning new things all the time.” And he’s thankful that “there hasn’t been any big screw-ups yet,” Setter said.
While Hill might beg to differ, he said any mistakes that might’ve been avoided with a more seasoned crew are part of the process and educational.
“Sure, there has been some rework, but it’s always been with a lesson attached,” Hill said. “That’s the cool thing about this program. … You can have a screw-up, and it’s not a bad thing, it’s a learning thing.”
And all in all, he added, the program is going great.
“Three weeks in and we got it framed and sheeted,” Hill said. “The learning curve has been pretty quick. They’re eager to learn, which makes it easy. I don’t want them to feel like I’m an instructor or like they’re at school. I want them to feel like they’re part of a team. And they’re getting it. The big thing is that they can ask questions if they don’t know something. In real life, they might not feel comfortable doing that. And being with peers helps foster that.”
The whole program also expedites the learning curve, he added, so they’re not just pushing a broom like other construction newbies are in their first year.
There might be a few more setbacks when they move inside, where they’ll be building their own stairs, installing cabinets and flooring, and more. They’ll also shadow licensed plumbers and electricians. Mak Klinzing, a junior at Soroco High School, took his CAD class from Hill this spring and was able to lay out the project’s electrical and mechanical specs in Auto CAD. “He could use what we learned in class and apply it,” said Hill. “Those are the kind of opportunities this provides.”
Nailing Down the Program’s Future
If all goes well, which it looks like from Hill’s team nailing and caulking away, the program will be emulated year after year.
“I think there’s tremendous potential for it to be very successful,” Hill said. “Creating a space where high school students can learn the fundamentals of building — and understand the steps required to construct a home alongside their peers — is incredibly valuable. It offers a unique and engaging introduction to residential construction.
While traditional work experiences have their place, this approach has a higher likelihood of keeping students motivated and excited to continue learning. It also helps build confidence by giving them a clearer understanding of what goes into a residential project from start to finish.”
Henwood credits the soft skills the students learn — such as getting to work on time, communicating and being accountable — as much as the harder, technical construction skills.
“It gives them experiences in different areas of construction and sets them up for when they graduate and move into their careers,” she said. “We’re helping build out these pathways so students can move on. And this is just a starting point. It could expand into remodels and other projects. But this program is what we could feasibly do in this nine-week summer period. We just want to make sure these opportunities are available for all students.”
Hill, for one, is just thankful for the groundwork and help RMYC and YVPS3 have provided to get the program up and running.
“They’ve been a huge asset,” he said. “There’s no way I could do this on my own without them. It’s great they got it going — it’s needed in our valley.”
Above all, he’s trying to keep it fun, mismeasurements and all.
“I’m just trying to create that stoke, so they realize how rewarding it can be,” he said. “You did that, you built that, you created that. It’s a cool thing.”