STOCKTON, Calif. — 17-year-old Haley Shepard is climbing the ladder of success at Stockton's Franklin High School.
"At the end of it just say I built that, you know? Like, I'm able to build greater things than something small, you know?," said Shepard.
The school is the first in the Stockton Unified School District to construct a tiny home from the trailer up. It will have a living room with a Murphy bed, as well as a bathroom and kitchen.
"I needed to be able to get to a point where they needed to able to fulfill some of the needs of the industry," said Michael King, who has taught the "Building and Construction" class for seven years.
King said he had to go through tiny house training in Fresno last summer to be certified to build tiny homes.
Up to fifty of his students began the project in January.
"Basically, I have all the curriculum and I teach it as a class and I teach it as a pathway, so that they're getting all those essential skills for industry," said King.
The students here learn a number of skills including electricity, plumbing, roofing, carpentry and more that they can take with them in the real world and possibly toward a future career.
Senior student Estrella Romero took the school's "Women in Construction" class and was hooked.
"I've always been a really creative person. So, I love to express myself with building stuff and this was a really great opportunity," said Romero, who is the lead project manager for the tiny home.
"It's making a material impact on our community and the amount of money that's being brought in and students leaving high school entering what's going to be a career," said Nathan Haley, director of Career Technical Education (CTE) and STEM for the school district.
Last year, 15 students from Franklin and Edison high schools were able to graduate, get training through construction unions and get jobs.
When it's completed, the value of the tiny home will be $70,000. The home will stay somewhere in San Joaquin County.
King hopes to one day have two or three tiny homes being built at the same time.
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