From start to finish, San Juan Basin Technical School students are building a duplex as part of their curriculum in a series of construction courses offered by the school. The program consists of four classes, culminating with a certificate and graduation.

Class instructor Kevin DesPlanques said, in the past, students have built storage sheds and other less engaging projects, but the duplex offers more opportunities to learn.

"We’ll be doing every aspect," DesPlanques said. "With a house they get to learn finishing work."

Currently, the class consists of 13 Cortez High School students and seven post-secondary students, he said.

The high school students’ tuition, text and tools are funded by the high school, and for some, the program offers an opportunity to learn a valuable trade if they aren’t planning to continue with formal education, DesPlanques said.

"They ought to be able to walk onto a job site and the employer won’t have to do all the training," DesPlanques said.

Some high-school students take only one or two of the courses for the basic skills even though they don’t plan to continue with construction as a career.

"If they’re not going into the field, they still get skills they can use in their homes and throughout their lifetime," DesPlanques said.

Montezuma-Cortez High School student Chris Mustoe said he plans to go on to college but is taking the course because he is interested in construction, and hopes it will be useful.

"It should help me to get summer jobs," Mustoe said.

Most of the program graduates, however, are post-secondary students who enroll in the program with the intent to learn the trade.

Post-secondary student Chris Todacheeny is in the first semester of the program and will obtain his certificate in March.

"The certificate is nice but the hands-on experience you get out of it is much more valuable," Todacheeny said.

DesPlanques said post-secondary students are responsible for their own tuition, tools and texts, but financial aid is available for qualifying students.

"They’ll be able to use the tools in the future, though," he added.

The duplex the students are working on is being built for Terri Wheeler of Cortez, who is the director for Housing Authority, and is financially responsible for the project. She plans to designate the duplex as vo-tech student housing, DesPlanques said.

"I’ll keep the rent low so it stays affordable for students," Wheeler said. "We tend to have trouble finding housing for students. It will help the tech school and the students."

Although the project got a late start, DesPlanques said the duplex will be finished ahead of schedule.

"It’s been moving along really well," he said. "We’ll probably wrap up around the end of February."

DesPlanques said the next project will be a remodeling of a house, also owned by Wheeler, adjacent to the duplex. They will eventually be connected, forming a triplex.

In addition to hiring the vo-tech school to build the house as part of the program, an independent contractor, Lyle Rice of RC Construction, has also been hired to spend half of each day with the student crew, overseeing the project.

"I’m here to make sure everything gets built to code," Rice said.

At the same time Rice is also observing the students for prospective employees.

Rice said work ethic is one of the most important things he looks for in an employee. "It’s the difference between looking for something to do rather than waiting for something to do."

DesPlanques said that because of growth in the area, contractors come to him looking for employees.

"They’ll hire every grad I can produce," he said.

Five students will be graduating in January and the job market is ready for them.

"I’ve placed four of the five and I’m in the process of finding work for the fifth," DesPlanques said.

The program is looking to continue with building entire houses as part of the curriculum and will most likely be looking for a new project in the future, DesPlanques said.

"We may take applications and then see what job best fits the class."

DesPlanques said classes will be starting up again in January with room for both secondary and post-secondary students. Night classes in cabinetry are also available as well as a home builders’ workshop in March.