PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Members of the Presque Isle Kiwanis Club joined students and employees from Northern Maine Community College earlier this month at the annual Sinawik luncheon to celebrate the near completion of the 35th home built through the collaboration between the two organizations.
“This project is a tremendous asset to the students, with the greatest benefit to them being that it provides them a full hands-on work experience and clearly demonstrates all the steps involved in building a home,” said Frank Pytlak, NMCC’s residential construction instructor. “Taking part in building of the house also gives students a glimpse into how it will be once they transition from the classroom to the workforce.”
The Boykins served as the official hosts of the luncheon held in the Edmunds Conference Center. The event featured a barbecue lunch and tours of the new home currently stored in the college’s residential construction lab.
The project begins anew each year at the beginning of the fall semester. Preliminary floor plans are developed by computer-aided drafting students and approved by the customer.
This year’s Sinawik house is a 28-foot by 50-foot, two bedroom, two bathroom, ranch-style home that has been built to exceed current energy codes. Students in the computer-aided drafting program worked to prepare drawings for the house that included the floor plan, exterior elevations, framing for the floor and roof, as well as plumbing, heating and electrical plans.
“Working on the house design allows CAD students to not only prepare plans for a home currently under construction, but it also gives them the opportunity to work collaboratively with other trade students,” said Pam Buck, NMCC’s CAD instructor. “The project continues to be an invaluable learning experience for everyone involved year after year.”
Once the plans are handed over, framing work on the walls, doors, windows and roof is completed by the first-year students in Pytlak’s program. They then step 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 Todd Maynard; and the welding and metal fabrication program, instructed by Dennis Albert, to do the “rough-in” work.
After the plumbing and heating conduits are installed, the wiring laid and required ductwork is in, the structure is inspected. After the inspection, the senior residential construction students come in and do the finish work, which is now in the final stages and has consisted of installing windows, doors and cabinets and completing the interior trim.
The Sinawik luncheon also featured the presentation of scholarships from Kiwanis to five students enrolled in the college programs that work on the structure. Receiving scholarships were Daniel Bernier of Frenchville, Julie Brown of Mapleton, and Kevin Clayton of Washburn, all from the residential construction program; Mathew Coon of Caribou from the electrical construction and maintenance program, and Daniel Jones of Amity from the plumbing and heating program.
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 funds to invest in the local community.
