When Construction and Interior Design collide

EVIT Construction and Interior Design students are putting the finishing touches on their miniature houses this week in preparation for the Block of Dreams Open House coming up on April 28th.


The Construction students have spent the entire school year constructing the two-room homes, and now the Interior Design students are adding their own special flair with paint and decor.


To get an idea of the final result, check out last year's houses here. Hope to see you all on the 28th!

Construction students grab medals at competition

EVIT construction students dominated at the annual Arizona Construction Challenge last Friday at Metro Tech High School. About 100 students from across the Valley put their masonry, plumbing and carpentry skills to the test.

EVIT students snatched first place in three out of the four skills competitions, as well as first, second and third place in the construction knowledge and math exams.

Carpentry Competition
1. Nik Christiansen
3. Juan Venegas
6. Colin Adair

Nik Christiansen

Plumbing Competition
1. Zac Bland
2. McKay Larsen
3. Andres Juarez

Zac Bland

Masonry
1. Landon Boren
3. Gerardo Zarate
6. Dominic Pittman

Landon Boren

Construction Knowledge
1. McCay Larsen
2. Colin Adair
3. James Guthrie

Construction Math
1. Nik Christiansen
2. Colin Adair
3. McKay Larsen

Academic winners

Concrete pouring and... a starter home?

I stopped over in construction today to see what they were up to. An official from Okland Construction (they're the company building the addition to EVIT's Health Science Center) was there, teaching students how to pour concrete:


That was pretty cool. But then something else caught my attention. Last year, the students made miniature houses. They started out like this:


And looked like this (with a little decorating assistance from the Interior Design students) by the end of the school year:


Pretty impressive, right? Well, this year, they're setting their sights a little bigger. Here is the start of this year's project:

I'll keep tabs on it and will post some more pictures once it's all done and I've moved in. ;)

EVIT students head to AZ Construction Career Days

East Valley Institute of Technology (EVIT) is sharing in the excitement of the Arizona Construction Career Days being held at the Army National Guard in downtown Phoenix today and tomorrow (October 21st and 22nd). Students are being guided through construction-based demonstrations, and are joining in some hands-on opportunities in building, designing, estimating and much more.

The purpose of the Construction Career Days is to support and promote the construction industry through education and employment. EVIT is hosting an exhibit and participating in the event which helps to train our future workforce. For more information, go to http://www.azccd.com/.

See you there! Check for EVIT student pictures tomorrow.

An open house ... of the "mini" variety

The interior design and construction students put the final touches on their mini-house projects this week, in preparation for the public open house happening from 5 to 7 p.m. tonight (Tuesday).


The "Block of Dreams" Open House will be held for one night only, so make sure you stop by to see these amazing houses. The students have been working on them all school year, and they are impressive, to say the least.

Interior Design students decorate mini-houses

EVIT interior design students are helping the construction students wrap up their year-long miniature house project by adding a splash of color and pizazz.

The construction students have spent the year building the frames, laying the drywall and wiring the electricity into their tiny houses. Here are a couple of pictures from their work over the first few months:


The houses have come a long way since the beginning of the year! Now, the interior design students are adding paint and various design elements, including curtains, to spruce them up:

Tech Fest is going on at EVIT right now!

Tech Fest has begun! The campus is already buzzing with lots of visitors. Stop by today before 1 p.m. to get in on the fun.

You could dunk a teacher:


Get a massage:


Or check our any of EVIT's nearly 40 amazing programs, like construction and radio broadcasting:

Student of the Month

Congratulations to Brendan Clark, the Mesa East Rotary Club's Student of the Month!

Brendan was honored at the EVIT governing board meeting on Monday, where he told board members that he signed up for Mr. Pikosz's construction technologies class because he enjoys working with his hands.

"I want to go to college for air conditioning, and hopefully one day, I'll have my own business," Brendan told the board.

Here is Brendan at the meeting with his family:

Congrats, Brendan!

And then there were frames...

The last time I visited the construction class, the students had just begun their big class project -- building miniature houses. The houses were sort of hard to envision, because this is all there was:


But I went back on Monday, and imagine my surprise when I walked outside and saw this:


When they're all done, the houses will have doorways, windows, drywall, stucco ... maybe even a sink!


The interior design students will partner up with the construction students toward the end of the school year to help decorate the houses, too.


By next week, I'm told there will be roofs!

Home on the range

Cool things were happening in the construction class on Wednesday afternoon. Students were working on the beginnings of miniature houses:

They were working in small groups to measure, cut, and hammer away:

Keep up the great work!