'Breathing Life Into Geometry': Evanston High Schoolers Build A Home From Scratch

EVANSTON, IL — A small crowd gathered in a residential neighborhood Monday morning in Evanston as construction crews lifted a two-story house several feet into the air.

Evanston Township High School's Geometry in Construction class, a class of freshman, completed its 10th house this year. Most, if not all, of the students have no building experience coming into class, but are able to practically apply lessons they learn in their math class to provide affordable housing in the city.

One of the teachers of the class, Maryjoy Heineman, said it's always a treat to see how much students grow in a year and how proud they are of what they've made.

"We are so lucky because there are hundreds of schools throughout the nation who are doing a geometry and construction program, but most of them are not building a house," Heineman said.

This year's class starts building next year's house on Wednesday, Heineman said. With each new home, a familiar process begins as the floor plan tends to stay the same year to year, with the exception of the first house the class built in 2013.

Heineman and co-teacher Matt Kaiser work with the architect DonnaLee Floeter to make sure the home fits in well with the neighborhood. The teachers make decisions on aesthetic details like the color of the siding, shingles and the trim and the students get to work.

A longstanding partnership with Evanston Lumber has helped provide essential materials needed for the students to start to put together the home. Other local companies also donate materials and community members donate their time during community build days.

Throughout the year, there are some fluctuations in excitement levels among students, Kaiser said, but in the end the process is rewarding. Students leave the class with the experience of seeing geometry in action on the build site.

"We can take the geometry and we contextualize it, so what they're hearing and seeing on the build site makes sense both ways," Kaiser said. "So those concepts of, 'When am I ever going to use this?' Well, here's how you're going to use it. So it really breathes life into the geometry."

@chicagolandpatch

Once the home is finished, it's up to the Community Partners for Affordable Housing, a nonprofit organization that develops affordable housing, to find the special home's residents through its Community Land Trust Homeownership Program.

Through the program, prospective homebuyers get pre-purchase education and counseling to help people boost credit scores and savings. When the home is sold, the buyers only buy the building, and CPAH keeps ownership of the land, which keeps costs down.

That way, instead of a home being $450,000 to $500,000, the home is priced in the $200,000 range. Last year's home, which will have an open house on Oct. 15, sold for around $220,000.

"We just love being a partner with high school in the city on this," CPAH President Rob Anthony said. "We work in a lot of different communities, and when people hear about this they say, 'Oh, my God, we want to do that!' It's just phenomenal that the high school committed to this and they've been doing it for so long."

Those interested in purchasing this year's home can register to attend a free CPAH class.