They traded their pencils and paper for hammers and nails.
Local students are learning math on a construction site and building something special for people in need.
Two high schools in the Rockwood School District launched a new math class this year: Geometry in Construction. The class project for the year is to build a tiny home for the local homeless.
“Every week the kids ask, are we really building a house? Yes, we are!” said Rockwood Summit teacher, Gayle Piepho. She said the students spend about half the time in the classroom learning the geometry, and the other half outside on the construction site applying that knowledge to the build.
“So yesterday, instead of just introducing trigonometry, we gave them a plan of the wall that has a cathedral ceiling,” she explained. “And we asked them to figure out what angle to set the saw at.”
Eureka High School is also building a tiny home. Each shelter building will be 26ft x 14ft, and include a great room, a bathroom, a kitchen and a bedroom space.
Rockwood Schools partnered with Social Justice 4All and North Grand Neighborhood Services for this project. Teachers said a total of three tiny homes will sit on land owned by North Grand Services in north St. Louis.
Anmar Mahmod signed up for the class because, he said, getting outside the classroom sounded like fun.
“I like to go out and do things, that’s my way of learning. So it just kind of fit perfectly,” he said. “And construction, I would be able to use it in the future if I ever needed to like, build anything or help someone out. It’s a helpful skill to learn.”
Mahmod said he and other students were also excited that their class project would benefit someone other than themselves. He hopes the recipient of the home will be happy with the finished product.
“It will be really neat for a homeless person to have a place to live in,” he said.
Materials used in construction were donated. Trina Casagrande is also a math teacher at Rockwood Summit, and guides the students through the construction part of class.
“They get to actually help people and I think they're taking pride in that, because I know it’s going to someone who really needs it,” she said. “And I think they're taking that to heart and trying to have really good craftsmanship and if something is wrong, they are going to fix it because they know this is really going to a place where people need it.”
Students will work on the tiny homes throughout the year, and expect to be finished before school ends next spring. Anyone interested in donating to the project can learn more on the group’s GoFundMe page.
