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Beginning with the 1999-2000 school year, Seaman High School began building houses for Habitat for Humanity here in Topeka. When Seaman first started the partnership, students would leave school for a week and report to a jobsite. The jobsite became a classroom for five school days and the students worked as a team to build a three bedroom house for a low income family. Students loved the experience and learned a great deal but the process fell short in some respects. |
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| Although the class worked very hard to prepare and build the Habitat House the most that could be accomplished in one week was the house framing, the roof and setting the doors and windows. Students didn’t get to experience building a finished product. This much work in a week is a tall order for students who have only been exposed to building from within a classroom. But add to that the challenge of finding five days in a Kansas spring that didn’t rain. |  This is a picture of the Habitat House currently being built at Seaman High during the 2004-2005 school year. |
| A better way had to be found. We needed to be able to build a complete house and we needed to be able to work comfortably around mother nature. Naturally the idea of building the house on the school campus and moving it to a permanent site emerged. With the vision of Mr. Emery Fager, the chairman of Topeka Habitat for Humanity, and the generous support of the school district, businesses and individuals, our partnership started building houses outside the back door of our school. Now the construction science classes have a full year to study building and experience the full building process. The new “on-campus building lab” stands available to be used for learning and if mother nature sends inclement weather building time is not lost but valuable theory is studied in the classroom. | |
| At its inception, the partnership goal was to provide at least ten houses over a ten year period to low-income families and to provide a rich learning experience for students about construction science. But the greatest lesson will be learning to give of your gifts to someone who needs your help. | |
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Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit - Christian organization that builds nonprofit houses for low income families. |
