ABOVE: A Habitat for Humanity house moves into the manufacturing lab in Fairmont High School’s vocational center Thursday morning. Students will be working on fixing up the house through the unique partnership.

FAIRMONT– A unique partnership between Fairmont High School and Habitat for Humanity of Martin-Faribault Counties (HFH) resulted in a house being moved from Granada to the vocational center at Fairmont High School on Thursday. Students at the school will begin working on the house next semester.

Staci Thompson, Executive Director of HFH, said she first began having conversations about a partnership like this close to five years ago when Joe Brown was superintendent of Fairmont Area Schools.

“As our volunteer pool shrinks and gets older–which is a common thing for Habitat for Humanity affiliates across the country– we have to be open to changing the way we build,” Thompson said.

She and Brown had several conversations about restarting the home building program at the high school. The idea was gaining momentum, but the bond referendum for an expanded vocational center was coming and they decided to wait. While the $6.73 million bond referendum did pass in February of 2021, it was during the Covid-19 pandemic so plans were again put on hold.

“Then there were some staff changes at the administration level and some doubts about whether there would be enough kids in the woods program long enough to build a home,” Thompson said.

However, she said that high school principal Chad Brusky then suggested that they bring in a house that the students could rehab during the school year.

The house was donated by Rick and Holly Benson and was moved from rural Granada to Fairmont by Spencer Heavy Movers out of Blue Earth.

“She called me out of the blue a couple years ago wondering if we were looking for a house. The board went and looked at it and took it,” Thompson said.

Brad Johnson is a CTE teacher at the school that teaches both building trades and woodworking classes. He shared that students at Fairmont High School used to build houses from scratch all year round but it’s been a number of years since that’s happened.

This is the first time the school has partnered with HFH to work on a house, though Johnson said last year students built some sheds for HFH.

He agreed with Thompson that the partnership has been several years in the making and noted that the vocational center expansion was in part born out of the desire to follow through with that partnership because students needed the space to work on an entire house.

“Whether we start a house from scratch or remodel a house that’s already been built, that’s what this manufacturing area is for,” Johnson said.

It was also pointed out that the large space allows for the students to work uninterrupted during inclement weather.

“Last fall and spring when it was raining outside or snowing outside, the kids were still building sheds. We were not weather-dependent and that’s huge for the learning process to happen,” Johnson said.

He said that the building trades 2 class, which is mostly students in grades 10 through 12, will be working on the house. That class will be held during the second semester of the school year. Before then, Johnson said Thompson will come in and they’ll discuss what projects need to be done with the house and whether any electrical or plumbing work is needed.

“We as a school will decide what we’re capable of getting done from January through May. There’s probably going to be some sheet rocking of walls, maybe some new cabinets that need to be built. Mostly finishing work rather than rough construction work,” Johnson said.

HFH has already selected a family for the house once it’s complete.

Each party talked about how unique the partnership is in this situation. Thompson said that while other HFH affiliates partner with schools on projects, it’s for new builds, not rehabs.

“This is the first project of its kind for Habitat for Humanity,” said Superintendent Andy Traetow.

“There may be other schools that go out on site and do work, but to do it indoors… we’re the only school in the nation that put the house inside the school,” added Brusky.

Thompson said she hopes this is the start of many house projects–whether a rehab or new build– that Habitat and the school can do together.

“It’s been a long time coming and I’m so happy to see things begin,” she said.

Brusky highlighted how several different pieces came into place to make the project finally work.

“When local resources align, what amazing things we can do,” he said.

He said the project is a good example of collaborating and aligning resources because the donors provided the house, the movers brought it here and through the partnership with HFH, the students are not only able to learn, but give back to the community through their work.