Georgia Bulletin

The Newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta

Photo By Michael Alexander
As Blessed Trinity students look on, Jason Podhorez, far right, project manager and the school’s computer systems administrator, opens the roll of insulation so it can be installed in the home’s sub-floor. The year-long tiny home project was completed recently.

Roswell

Titans’ tiny house project complete

By GEORGIA BULLETIN STAFF, editor@georgiabulletin.org | Published January 9, 2020

ROSWELL—Students at Blessed Trinity High School recently completed construction of a tiny house. They began the project more than one year ago. The house measures just under 200-square feet. On a custom-built wheeled trailer, this home includes a sleeping loft for a king bed and a twin, a kitchen and a bathroom with a standup shower, along with a sitting area.

The project was part of an effort by the Roswell school to weave several subjects into school projects, linking religion and the arts to engineering and technology.

Students started from the bottom as they installed the floor on the trailer, nailed the upright studs then attached the plywood sheathing. They installed the roof rafters, learned safety techniques for handling new tools and received basic instructions on skills, such as using a tape measure or cutting wood.

This project—a first for the school—grew out of an idea of the students in the fall of 2017 while learning about electrical circuits. The project was to wire a micro house on a computer. Students asked about moving from a virtual house to a real one.

The tiny home is part of a minimalist living trend. For comparison, the average house in America is about 2,400 square feet, according to the Census Bureau.

A recommendation during a recent accreditation of the Atlanta Archdiocese school system was to develop school projects, tying a school’s science, technology, religion, engineering, arts and mathematics curriculum together. It is known at STREAM. Beyond engineering, this project incorporates faith and the arts. The project—built with about $15,000 in donations—attracted students with diverse interests, from the robotics club to the fine arts students who added flair to the interior. The brawn of the football team came in handy to lift the shell of the house up on top of the trailer. Members of the St. Vincent de Paul campus chapter handled marketing the project to parents waiting in the car line.

For the faith component, the goal was to give the finished house to a person in need, a veteran, if possible. Designs and videos from Tiny House Builder, a clearinghouse for the DIY (do it yourself) crowd with visions of downsizing, guided the students’ work. This project offered young women and men a taste of the construction trade.

The school’s robotics club contributed many of the tiny house builders.