The district’s Building Trades program is a part of their Career and Technical Education (CTE) course, lead by CTE Director Trent Bellingar, in which juniors and seniors from local districts learn residential construction by planning and building real homes in the community.

The program currently includes 52 students, all of whom contribute to the housing project in different capacities.

The recently completed home, located at 820 Willow Creek Road in Escanaba, features approximately 1,600 square feet of living space, three bedrooms and a primary suite separated from the second and third bedrooms. The home also includes a fully finished two-car garage.

“The buy-in from these kids has been incredible,” Bellingar said. “We had students who took leadership in the electrical and the footings and the crawl space, and they were like job superintendents. They knew what to do, and they got the job done with their peers. It’s probably the lowest attendance issues we have in that class because the kids want to be there and they want to get there to work.”

Delta-Schoolcraft Intermediate School District students in the Building Trades program recently debuted their student-built home, which they broke ground on in spring 2025. (R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press)

AJ Schroeder, an 18-year-old senior at the Escanaba High School, particularly enjoyed the electrical process of the project — a field he plans on pursuing after he graduates.

“I mainly ran the whole process of doing electrical,” Schroeder said. “My dad is an electrician, so I worked with him this past summer. Me and a few other students did electrical while the rest of the class was outside doing siding.”

Before breaking ground on the home in spring 2025, students practiced laying concrete blocks and performing electrical work.

Bellingar said the project cost between $260,000 and $275,000, including contractors, materials and staff hours. Funding came in part from Build U.P., a fund managed by InvestUP, which contributed $200,000. The remaining costs were covered through the CTE program’s general fund.

“The whole point of that Build U.P. fund is they give us $200,000, like collateral, and then when we’re done, we pay it back,” Bellingar said.

A recently completed home by Delta-Schoolcraft Intermediate School District (DSISD) students is located at 820 Willow Creek Road in Escanaba. The home features approximately 1,600 square feet of living space, three bedrooms and a primary suite separated from the second and third bedrooms. It also includes a fully finished two-car garage. (Photo courtesy of DSISD)

DSISD Superintendent Kristina Hansen said, “We are grateful to InvestUP/BuildU.P. for the financial investment in this project. Mr. Marty Fittante, CEO of InvestUP, visited the building site with other members of InvestUP and talked with some of the students who were working on the project. The student interactions, along with the financial resources, demonstrated InvestUP’s dedication to this project.”

The district is also constructing a student-built home in Schoolcraft County with Build U.P. funding, while work is underway on a second home adjacent to the completed Escanaba house. A third nearby lot is slated to become the site of another student-built home.

The completed Escanaba home is currently for sale with a minimum bid of $407,000. Bellingar said the amount was determined by a professional appraisal.

Sealed bids will be opened during the DSISD school board meeting at 4 p.m. June 11 at the district office, 2525 Third Ave. South in Escanaba.

“The profit we make is going to be directly put into future projects,” Bellingar said. “We currently own three lots that we bought years ago, and eventually, we’re going to run out of lots. We intend to do this for the foreseeable future.”

The building trades program dates back decades but was suspended in 2008 during the housing market crash. It was revived in 2017, according to Bellingar.

While the program provides students with hands-on construction experience, Bellingar said its broader goal is to expose them to career opportunities in the skilled trades and connect them with industry professionals.

“We’re trying to show them through the social capital, which is the social circle around them, of what careers are available to them,” Bellingar added. “So, that’s why we partner with professional electricians, professional HVAC, professional plumbers, drywallers, to work with the kids so they can say, ‘Oh, that’s a job.’… just kind of trying to show them all the different opportunities that might be closely related to building trades.”

Gavin Wagner, a 17-year-old recent graduate from Escanaba High School, said, “This year, AJ and I had the honor to be here four hours each day…. My favorite part was probably framing, it was pretty fun. And doing the roofing was really fun.”

Wagner is in the process of getting into the electrical union but is currently working at The Carpet and Drapery Shoppe.

Hansen added, “Our sincere hope is that students learned about different aspects of the construction trades. From HVAC, to plumbing, to drywalling, to electrical, students were exposed to the work and professionals in all of these areas. We want students to have gained skills in these areas and to feel satisfaction in being a part of a community legacy.”

In addition to highlighting the educational value of the project, Hansen thanked the organizations and trades professionals who helped make the student-built home a reality.

“On behalf of the DSISD’s CTE Center and Building Trades program, I would like to share my genuine appreciation to BuildU.P. and all of the local contractors who supported this project,” Hansen said. “Our students have created a beautiful home for this community because of these generous contributions.”

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Sophie Vogelmann can be reached at 906-786-2021 or svogelmann@dailypress.net.