 |
PUBLIC RELATIONS
(815) 966-2066
| |
|
|
NEWS RELEASES
New Home Built by Students from East High and Sweden Completed-Ribbon Cutting 10 A.M. Wednesday
June 8, 2010
ROCKFORD – A two-year project to complete the first, totally student-built home in the SwedishAmerican neighborhood will come to conclusion on Wednesday, June 9th, when representatives of SwedishAmerican and East High School “cut the ribbon” on a new-home construction at 1636 4th Avenue.
The new home project, which has taken two school years (2008-09 and 2009-10) to complete, has been a collaborative project involving Construction Class students from East High school, two different groups of Construction students from De la Gardie High School/Gymnasiet (Lidcoping, Sweden) and The SwedishAmerican Foundation.
After rehabbing two existing homes in the SwedishAmerican neighborhood in 2006-07 and 2007-08, the East High group accepted the challenge of building a home “from the ground up” on a vacant lot purchased by The SwedishAmerican Foundation from the Rockford Homestead Board.
With The Foundation providing all the materials, the East High group plunged enthusiastically into the new-home building effort in the fall of 2008. In the spring of 2009, the first group of Construction students from Lidcoping [and their instructors], Sweden traveled to Rockford to work on the home for a period of a month. In the fall of the same year, a second group [with instructors] visited Rockford to add their efforts and expertise to the project.
“Obviously, a project of this nature takes a little more time to complete than a regular construction project, but the educational value to the high school students and the opportunity to build new construction in this neighborhood far exceeds the inconvenience of the additional time,” stated John R. Mecklenburg, Executive Vice President & CEO of The SwedishAmerican Foundation.
“This project has blossomed into a major, collaborative effort between East High School and De la Gardie High School in Sweden,” Mecklenburg continued in describing the effort. “What started four years ago as a simple home remodeling project with East High School has grown to a multi-faceted, international project that is attracting attention on both sides of the Atlantic.”
As an extension of the project, a group of ten East High students traveled to De la Gardie High School this spring to study Swedish construction methods and materials, in preparation for the second new home construction project, which will begin this summer.
This construction project is just one aspect of The SwedishAmerican Foundation’s nine-year effort to revitalize and rehabilitate the neighborhood surrounding SwedishAmerican Hospital.
To date, during the past nine years, The Foundation’s efforts have seen more than 30 new homes constructed in the area, more than 25 homes rehabilitated (and sold to owner-occupants), 18 garages and driveways built, one playground and two “green spaces” created and more than 75 50-50 grants made to local residents to improve their homes.
The East High construction project is under the supervision of teachers Matt Walling and Bob Garnhart and the SwedishAmerican Neighborhood Revitalization Project is under the day-to-day direction of Foundation Property Coordinator Melody Pobjecy.
|
