Courtesy photo Pictured are students in the DSISD Career and Technical Education Center’s Building Trades class from Escanaba and Bark River Harris high schools with a donation from Louisiana Pacific Corporation. The company donated two bunks of sheeting, worth $14,400. The donation allowed the Building Trades class and project to move forward.

ESCANABA — A donation from a business has helped salvage a building trades class at the Delta-Schoolcraft Intermediate School District.

One of the classes offered at the Career and Technical Education Center within the DSISD is the Building Trades class — a class which teaches students the skills of construction and building a home.

“The DSISD is working hard to ensure that every student has the opportunity to learn every competency that is necessary to enter industry running,” school officials said.

As part of that curriculum shift, the plan for the Building Trades class had been for students to work in groups of two to three. They would build 6 foot by 6 foot rooms that would allow them to “build” a house from foundation, to floor systems, stairs, walls, electrical, plumbing, drywall, installation of doors and windows, installation of fixtures, paint and trim.

There was one problem. “With the pricing absurdity that we are currently experiencing in building materials, we were not going to be able to even start this project,” school officials said.

The program was salvaged thanks to a donation from the Louisiana Pacific Corporation in Newberry. The company donated two bunks of sheeting, worth $14,400, so the project could move forward and model a real world construction project.

“Industry support such as this keeps our programs running strong and helps us turn out a talented workforce for our community,” school officials said.