CHEROKEE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – As the fall semester wraps up, a group of Cherokee County students are putting the final touches on a semester-long project: building a tiny home.
Seeing it all come together, I can’t even remember how it looked before we put everything together,” said building construction student Elizabeth Brown.
It’s a tiny home, but a big project, all built by students in the building construction class at the Institute of Innovation in Cherokee County.
“We started with nothing but asphalt here,” said building construction teacher George Duncan. “I’m proud of all of them. I mean, they’ve worked so hard and I can tell when they walk in here, they’re like, ‘We did this. We built this.'”
Duncan said he came up with the idea to build a tiny home for a class project over the summer. When classes started in August, he told students about the project.
“When he said we were going to do a tiny house, I was like, ‘Are you sure we’re actually going to be able to do this?'” said Brown.
From the studs to the finished project, the class, made up of six students, worked hard. Duncan said they worked for three hours a day, during class time, every day of the semester.
While working on the project, students said they learned and practiced new skills.
“The interior was really hard,” said student Turner Smith. “The roof and the walls, it was a challenge.”
They also used techniques they learned in previous construction projects.
“I knew it was going to be really challenging, because we’re used to just building storage units, but I knew we could do it,” said Smith.
They even put tools they learned in other classes to the test.
“You always hear students say, ‘I’ll never use that math.’ They use that math in here,” said Duncan.
Now with just days left in the semester, their tiny home is nearly finished.
“It’s amazing. I didn’t think it’d turn out like this, but it’s amazing that we built this,” said Smith.
It features full-size appliances, a washer and dryer, a bathroom, bedroom and closet space. As students look ahead, some are considering future careers in construction, where they can continue to use their skills.
“I know how to do it now, and I can take that with me in my future,” said Smith.
They said it’s still crazy to look at the home and know they built it.
“It’s really kind of amazing for me. I look back at pictures from the beginning of the year. It’s like, we really did that,” said Brown.
Duncan said they will auction off the tiny home in January. He said money from the sale will recoup the cost of the project and fund future projects in the class.
People can tour the tiny house project at an open house on Saturday. It’s happening during a Breakfast with Santa event at the Institute of Innovation from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.
