The Morongo Basin needs long-term affordable housing. Copper Mountain College, under Melynie Schiel, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Brian Benton, program coordinator, has designed a curriculum to train contractors and promote student job opportunities. The new curriculum includes finished carpentry, plumbing, blueprint reading, hand and power tool usage, common construction materials, invoicing, and scheduling.
Shields and Benton have been working on a program to improve student’s lives and help the community meet housing needs. “Our mission is to get people employed,” said Schiel, “We get taxpayer money so that we can make the community better and improve lives.” By the time the students have completed the curriculum, they will have a basic understanding of the overall process of building a structure like a home or a garage and the needed skills to start their own business. The new one-year (two semesters) course will begin in October of this year and will be held at the Twentynine Palms High School from 4:00 to 7:00, Monday through Thursday.
The Morongo Basin needs long-term affordable housing. Copper Mountain College, under Melynie Schiel, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Brian Benton, program coordinator, has designed a curriculum to train contractors and promote student job opportunities.
Shields and Benton have been working on this program to improve students’ lives and help the community meet housing needs. The new curriculum will include finished carpentry, plumbing, blueprint reading, hand and power tool usage, common construction materials, invoicing and scheduling, and an elective managerial course. The two new courses are tailored to individual students’ needs.
“Our mission here is to get people employed,” said Schiel, “We get taxpayer money so that we can make the community better and improve lives.”
If a student wants academic credit, they can go through an Academic program which includes counseling to develop an education plan, or they could sign on for a non-credit program.
Schiel said the program developed out of a Master Plan Development Program the College runs every five Years. The College administration asked the community what they wanted, and the answer was, trained construction people. At the same time, Superintendent David Smith approached CMC President Dr. Darren Otten about challenges the park was having with seasonal housing. The military base also has had concerns about off-base housing. The Morongo Basin needs affordable housing, and the College set out to develop the program and hire the right Instructor. Benton, working for the facilities department, heard about the job and requested to work on the program. Having worked with his hands his entire life, he was a perfect fit for the new program.
Benton explains the new one-year (two semesters) course will begin in October of this year and will be held at the Twentynine Palms High School from 4:00 to 7:00 Monday through Thursday.
“I have a course called site layout prep that would teach you about blueprint reading and the initial stages of construction,” said Brandon. In the next course, students would learn about roof framing, and the eight-week course would teach you about carpentry.” There are additional plumbing courses and finished carpentry. By the time the students have completed the curriculum, they will have a basic understanding of the overall process of building a structure like a home or a garage and the needed business skills to start their own business. The College is also partnering to meet housing needs and to promote trainees into future paying positions.
