APTOS — As the U.S. continues to face a housing shortage, the construction of tiny homes remain an alternative. Since the Great Recession, these homes have provided people with houses featuring just the bare essentials while also giving them affordable options.
The growth of tiny homes has also resulted into them being incorporated into high school career technical education curricula, where students have spent countless hours hammering away at boards and installing windows. This includes Aptos High School, whose building and construction trades students recently completed the first tiny home in the Pajaro Valley Unified School District.
Students, district officials and project funders celebrated the completion of a 20-foot by 8-foot tiny home with a ceremony Monday. Constructed by approximately 200 students, the house features a bedroom with an overhead fan, bathroom with a shower and a kitchen with a stove and miniature refrigerator.
Julie Edwards, the district’s career technical education coordinator, said the project was the result of “a big idea and a big, but tiny, accomplishment.”
“We celebrate our students and our teachers today, honoring the integrity of their instruction with both conceptual, hands-on learning to enable our students to build an actual home for someone in our community,” she said. “A credit to our students and what we can actually accomplish together in PVUSD.”
Superintendent Heather Contreras said the project exemplified a strong sense of community, especially through support from Cabrillo College, the Pajaro Valley Education Foundation and businesses like Granite Construction.
“I look forward to all the future tiny homes, and I want to commend the students because their vision for what happens next with this tiny home is all about community,” she said. “They had voice into where it goes and they had some really wonderful philanthropic ideas about where this home belongs.”
Principal Allison Hanks-Sloan said the project was more than just a grade for the students.
“These are skills that they’re gonna take away for a lifetime, and they’re leaving behind what we need in our community: more housing and skills and an opportunity to grow it and to build it,” she said.
The project received financial support from many local businesses and nonprofits, including Elements Manufacturing, Testorff Construction, Talmadge Construction, Tyler Allen Plumbing, Gabriel Regalado Electric, Eliad Group, Your Future is Our Business and Granite Construction, the latter of whose donation Edwards said allowed the project to be self-sustaining over time.
Erin Kuhlman, Granite’s chief marketing and communications officer, said the business has had many partnerships over its 100 years but had not done anything with Pajaro Valley Unified School District. In addition to donating money, Granite met with students in Dusten Dennis’ building and construction trades class and created a special internship for the first time.
“Most of all, we just feel like this is a great project to give you confidence, a sense of feeling and accomplishment,” said Kuhlman.
Katryn Bermudez, president of the Pajaro Valley Education Foundation, said the project supports the nonprofit’s mission of fueling innovative and creative programs in science, technology, engineering and math.
“The students that participated have earned the knowledge and the confidence that will serve them and their families for their entire lives,” she said. “Some of them will go on to have the high-demand, high-paying jobs in the construction and energy management field … but all of them are going to be more prepared to solve complex problems, work in teams and learn skills in real times.”
Dennis said that although 200 students were involved in the project, he singled out 17 as going above and beyond by taking the class for two years and working on weekends: Carolyn Alcantar, Greyson Agnello, Camden Fincher, Alina Garcia, Aiden Gonzales Cisneros, Spencer Hanco*ck, Dylan Hendrix-Wymore, Bryce Hoops, Brock Horton, Ian Hsu, Madisson Knudsen, Daniel Perez, Elliot Ramsay, Gregory Testorff, Tyler Thomas and Jordan Torres.
“These are the students that took the lead and, while their classmates were making a cool cellphone holder, they’re like ‘You know what? I’m gonna do something big,'” he said.
Many of these students were present and all received special Milwaukee brand tool bags with Team Tiny Home patches on them.
“We’re extremely proud to be able to participate and help out the people who will potentially live here later,” said Hsu.
Edwards said the house will be transitioned over to the Pajaro Valley Education Foundation, which will market it to be sold, and the money from that sale will be generated to fund the next tiny home.
“This is part of that cycle of funding,” she said.
Watsonville High School students are already at work building the district’s next tiny home, scheduled to be completed June 2025.
