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The “classroom” for nine students in Darrel Van Aartsen’s vocational education class arrived on East Dodge Street in Luverne last week.
The house, formerly the Real Estate Retrievers building, was moved from South Highway 75 to the residential neighborhood on Thursday, Oct. 12, where the high school students will remodel the structure back to a family dwelling.
Seniors Trenton Carson and Josh Evans are two of VanAartson’s students.
Both said they are interested in a vocational career, not in pursuing four-year degrees, after they graduate from high school this spring.
“I wanted some construction experience because I like working with people,” Carson said.
Since early September, the students have met a lot of people and learned about the different trades involved in moving a house to a new location.
The students worked with city of Luverne officials on the design of the four-bedroom home. They used a computer-aided design program and each designed a floor plan for the basement, main floor and upstairs.
They’ve met the workers who dug the new basement and the concrete workers who set up the forms for the concrete foundation.
The day after the house move, the students were calculating the yardage of fill material needed to level the yard before building the new oversized two-stall garage. They also staked out where the garage would be located.
They also watched house movers Berghorst & Sons Inc. from Hull, Iowa, lift the structure, drive the home halfway across town, and place the house on the new foundation.
Students then worked with the movers in the basement to install supports in the basement before the large metal beams used to move the house were removed.
In coming months, the students will construct the new detached garage while shadowing plumbers and electricians who will work in the house. They will also complete the demolition and rebuilding of walls for the home’s new layout.
Sale of the one-and-a-half-story home next year will support another construction project for the 2023-24 school year.