PRESQUE ISLE – Rowell and Sandy McHatten of Mapleton invited the Aroostook County community to come visit their new retirement home and share a bite to eat and more than 200 people responded. It was an open house with a twist, as the McHatten’s soon-to-be-completed 1,248-square-foot modular ranch-style home sits in two pieces inside the residential construction laboratory at Northern Maine Community College.
Photo courtesy of Northern Maine Community College
Sinawik Inc. President Dan Lee, left, addresses the more than 200 people gathered in the NMCC residential construction lab for the annual Sinawik Luncheon. Joining Lee as a speaker during the event were, from left: Guy Jackson, NMCC residential construction instructor; Timothy Crowley, NMCC president; and Janet Kelle, vice president of the Presque Isle Kiwanis Club.
It is there where more than four dozen students and their instructors in five trade and technical occupations programs have spent the past six months making the dream home become reality, and at the same time getting a hands-on learning experience unlike any other.
For over three decades, the College and Sinawik (Kiwanis spelled backwards), a non-profit organization founded by the Presque Isle civic organization, have partnered to build a home each year that is contracted by, and sold to, an Aroostook County family.
With work on the 31st home nearing completion, the College and Kiwanis Club hosted a community open house celebration and barbecue April 29 in the Mailman Trades Building, where the work of the students and the importance of the partnership between NMCC and Kiwanis on the home building project were recognized.
“This project has been a win-win for both the College and Kiwanis Club,” said Guy Jackson, NMCC’s residential construction instructor, who has been key to the project for the past 27 years. “Over the years, hundreds of students have had the opportunity to work directly on the construction of a house that is placed in the local community and becomes a home for an area family. It has been an excellent teaching tool and great source of pride for both our students and for us as faculty.”
The partnership between NMCC and Kiwanis was forged in 1976 to provide students in several trade programs at then Northern Maine Vocational Technical Institute with a “real-life” practical experience, and as a way for Kiwanis to raise scholarship funds to invest in the local community.
“This is a great project for both the Kiwanis Club and for the students enrolled in the building trade programs here at NMCC,” said Janet Kelle, vice president of the Presque Isle Kiwanis Club. “It is a model that has been catching the eye of other Kiwanis clubs around the country, and I am extremely proud that it is the Presque Isle Kiwanis Club and Northern Maine Community College leading the way.”
The open house event included tours of the new home and an indoor barbecue, as well as the presentation of scholarships from Kiwanis to five students enrolled in the College programs that work on the structure. Kiwanis member Dan Lee, who serves as president of Sinawik, Inc. and the lead faculty members for three of the building construction trade programs, awarded scholarships to the students.
Receiving the awards were residential construction program seniors John Kennedy of Castle Hill and David Riopelle of Mars Hill, residential construction freshman Brian Nadeau of Connor, plumbing and heating senior Matthew Tribou of Hodgdon, and electrical construction senior Coleby Lamoreau of Presque Isle.
In addition to honoring the students, a special presentation was made to Roger Crouse, NMCC computer-aided drafting instructor. Crouse was presented with the framed floor plans of Sinawik 31, which marks the 30th home he has designed under the cooperative project. Crouse will retire from the College at the end of this academic year.
Although each of the Sinawik projects built by the NMCC students and faculty for the past three decades have been approximately the same size, due largely to the space available to construct them, each has been unique according to Crouse.
“The house plan is a unique example of how we are able to adapt the modular home design to meet the customer’s desires. In the case of Sinawik 31, a home office area provides space for the owner to set up a computer and desk for business and personal use. The bathroom incorporates a solar light tube, as well as an easily accessible shower. Plans were also provided to the owner so that they will be able to add a breezeway and garage once the house is placed on the foundation,” said Crouse.
In fact, Sinawik 31 will be the “greenest” home completed through the NMCC-Kiwanis partnership. Among the features of the structure is radiant floor heating and window placement, which has been designed to take advantage of passive solar gain. As is always the case, extra care has been taken during construction to seal all penetrations in air and vapor barriers.
Constructing an energy efficient home was clearly the goal of owner Rowell McHatten who plans, once the foundation is laid and the structure placed on-site in Castle Hill, to install a state-of-the art heating system that will attach to solar panels he will place on the roof that will heat the water for his new home.
“We wanted to make sure our home was as energy efficient as possible and the NMCC faculty and students that have been working on the home have gone to great lengths to help make this happen,” said McHatten. “I’m very appreciative of the work they have done. It is top quality.”
Rowell’s wife, Sandy, has also been impressed with the work of the NMCC students and faculty, who she says are “making her dream come true.”
“I’ve never had a new house,” said Sandy. “We’ve always been conservative. We’ve lived in a 100-year-old house, in a home attached to a restaurant, and now live in an old farmhouse that we had considered renovating. This will be my retirement home, my honeymoon home and lifetime expectation.”
The first contact for this year’s home was made early last spring with Crouse. Preliminary floor plans were developed and approved by the customer. This past fall, a college work-study student in the computer-aided drafting program developed working drawings for the residential construction students to use.
Once the plans were handed over, framing work on the walls, doors, windows and roof were completed by the first-year students in Jackson’s program. They then stepped away from the project and let students in the plumbing and heating program, instructed by Al St. Peter; the electrical construction and maintenance program, instructed by Charles Kelley; and the metal fabrication program, instructed by Dennis Albert, do what is referred to as the “rough-in” work.
Once the plumbing and heating conduits were installed, the wiring laid and required ductwork was in, the structure was inspected. After the inspection, the senior residential construction students came in to do the finish work, which is now in the finishing stages and has consisted of installing windows, doors and cabinets and completing the interior trim.
“Working on the Sinawik home is more relevant for our students today than it has ever been in large part because of the importance that is given to energy efficiency,” said Jackson. “As they enter the construction profession, they will find themselves working for customers who place energy conservation among the top priorities of their building projects.”
Photo courtesy of Northern Maine Community College
Northern Maine Community College building construction trade students, from left, Brian Nadeau of Connor, John Kennedy of Castle Hill, David Riopelle of Mars Hill, Matthew Tribou of Hodgdon and Coleby Lamoreau of Presque Isle were awarded the 2008 Sinawik Scholarships.
