Independent living classes are geared toward at-risk students

Jace Radke

Saturday, Oct. 31, 1998 | 3:51 a.m.

On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, 17-year-old Bryan Cardwell, like many high school students, works. But unlike most of his peers, he's not making minimum wage. He's not getting a paycheck at all.

Instead, the student, who splits his time between Valley High School and the Area Technical Trade Center, gets academic credit and an education in what it takes to make it in the real world of work.

Cardwell and other at-risk students in Clark County are learning job skills along with their regular high school course work, thanks to Nevada Homes for Youth's independent living skills classes.

"This program keeps the kids busy while they earn high school credit, and it may spark interest that may lead to a future job," said Moore, head of Nevada Homes for Youth, a nonprofit organization that provides homes for abused, neglected and delinquent children. When the students turn 18, the program helps them find transitional housing.

The classes usually run three days a week for six weeks for 60 hours of experience. Students can earn a half credit for the 60 hours.

Cardwell attends "Constructing Your Future," an introductory class in the construction trade that gives students an opportunity to remodel two rundown apartment buildings at 4228 E. Stewart Ave.

"They were pretty bad when we first started," Cardwell said. "We've learned to remove and replace tiles, the right way to paint and texture, and we've been taught a lot about what we can do in home developing."

Some projects that Cardwell and his classmates will learn include carpentry, maintenance, tiling, roofing and plumbing, instructor Kerry Wilson said.

"What we are teaching is basic construction skills, but at the same time the kids are learning about following a job through and staying on task," said Wilson, who also works as a home-bound teacher for children with an illness or injury. "A lot of these kids don't have very long attention spans, so they have to learn that not everything can be done instantly."

Sergio Pacheo, 17, learned some patience on the first day of work at the Stewart Avenue buildings.

"When we first started working here in September, it was nasty," said Pacheo, who is in the Clark County adult-education program. "The carpet was all dirty and it stank when we pulled it out."

Since Sept. 3, the class has been working on the apartments every Tuesday and Thursday for four hours and on Saturdays for six.

When finished, the apartments will be inspected by Glenview Development, a local construction company.

"We come in and inspect the kids' work before the city inspectors look at it," Glenview representative Terri Szostek said. "That way we make the kids responsible for their own work, and they can go back and fix any problems."

Once the finished apartments are passed by Glenview and the city, they will be used as transitional housing for the Homes for Youth program, Moore said.

"We had a similar class last year where students turned a garage into an apartment that we now use for transitional housing," Moore said.

The hands-on environment at the Stewart project is what draws some of the students to the program.

"I like this a lot better than learning out of a book," Pacheo said. "I still do learn with books, but I prefer to come here because I know I'm learning and helping some people at the same time."

The construction class has about five students, but Moore hopes to see the program grow and add new classes.

"Eventually we'd like to have a series of classes that include landscaping, auto mechanics, culinary skills and even etiquette," Moore said.

Cardwell says that this class is perfect for him and he hopes he can add the completed course to his resume.

"I'm looking to go into construction, so this is good experience for me," Cardwell said. "It feels good to start a project from nothing and do the job right."

Charles Nunley, a 16-year-old freshman at Valley, said he is also hoping that future employers will take the skills class into consideration when he applies for a job.

"Everything helps when you are applying for a job," Nunley said. "This class is pretty cool and it has helped me learn a lot that I might be able to use in a job."

Wilson said he sometimes thinks of his job as a cross between a carpenter, teacher and counselor.

"Since we don't have that many students in the program, I can put in one-on-one time with them as we are working," Wilson said. "It almost turns into little pull-out counseling sessions, because as we work, things slip out from them. They'll start talking about their problems at school or their girlfriend problems and we talk about it."

The students are still learning a little spilled paint and other mistakes are expected, Wilson said.

"The biggest thing we are teaching them is work ethic," Wilson said. "We are trying to get these young men to be leaders where they can see something, and direct themselves to complete it."