Success Stories
Construction
Tech Students Help Build Home for Special Family
by Gloria Biersdorff
 |
Construction
technology students at Lane Community College take a break with
family members at a home under remodel as a class project. |
On a cold, clear autumn morning, Lane Community College student Juanita Zaiger deposits a bag of stones from her rock garden on the ground beside Don and Lahna Rasmussen's unfinished addition to their Eugene home. Her offering, which will embellish the rustic masonry flanking the entry, embodies the spirit of this project.
Zaiger, 37, is one of approximately 25 Construction Technology program students helping to create vital living space for the couple and their 12 adopted children, ages 5 to 24, whose disabilities include Downs syndrome, fetal alcohol exposure, autism, hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy and blindness.
"This job would've been impossible without the community's support," says Lane instructor Leonard Keen, who coordinates the 1500 square-foot project that broke ground December 2001 and is slated for completion next summer.
Several businesses donated materials and labor amounting to about $40,000. Among them are Lyn West Architecture, Gemini Concrete Pumping, Willamette Industries, Tom Charpentier Plumbing, Eugene Sand and Gravel, Trus Joist Macmillan, Willamette Greystone, Sunbelt Rentals, Square-Deal Lumber, Farwest Steel, J K Guckenberger Electrical Contractor and Welcome Home Mortgage. Emerald Valley Glass donated the multitudinous windows that open the cathedral-ceilinged structure to trees, sky and sun.
Rasmussen says she can picture her younger children learning to folk dance in the light-drenched great room. Or they can follow the moves of angelfish drifting in the 55-gallon aquarium installed in the wall that partitions the family room and Rasmussen's study. Student Rodney Raudebaugh donated the aquarium, and will supply the accessories and fish.
Raudebaugh, 41, is repeating the construction and blueprint reading courses that comprise this project in order to continue working on the site.
"I'm here, basically, because of the kids," he says. "They're so willing to help, to learn. I do anything I can to help them feel more a part of something. They're always a pleasure to be around. This is not your normal, everyday job. In my 25 years of working in the trades this is the best project I've ever been on."
Over the course of the construction technology program's 30-year history, students have gained on-site training through building and remodeling numerous structures, both commercial and residential. The program trains people in the technical skills and knowledge required by the construction industry. Students may earn a one-year certificate of completion or a two-year associate of applied science degree.
For more information contact Keen at (541) 463-5504
