BERKELEY – On a construction site in Bayville, hammers and nails are the pencils and test papers.
This is because this donated lot is being used as a classroom by the Ocean County Vocational Technical School. There are 23 students, ages 18 to 35, who are building a house to be auctioned off.
The teacher, Harold “Skip” Peters gave an example of how hard they’ve been working. “Some of these students couldn’t read a measuring tape in September,” he said.
Now, they’re doing almost everything: framing, insulation, sheetrock, doors, windows, siding, roofing, tile and cabinets. They don’t do electrical or plumbing work, but just about every aspect of this home will have been done by the students and overseen by a teacher.
He expects that this house could sell for more than $500,000. It will be placed on a government auction website and the money earned will fund future builds.
Peters gave tours of the framed building, taking people through the one-car garage, up a short run of stairs into a utility room where there will be hook-ups for a washer and dryer. Officials, neighbors, and special guests stood where there will one day be bedrooms and bathrooms.
The property is 100 feet wide on the street, and goes 400 feet back. The huge, wooded back yard is landlocked so there’s no other development there.
The home is being built on Gladney Avenue, which goes west off Route 9. There’s a strange mix of homes – one of which had farm animals looking over a fence at passersby – and industrial properties, as it dead ends by the former Beachwood Mall property. In fact, officials thanked the Oughton family, owners of the mall, for donating this lot.
There were several businesses who were also thanked for donating money or supplies.
Speakers, including Jeremy Dusza, principal of the adult education program, and Gary MacDonald, curriculum director, said they appreciated the support from the County Commissioners, Berkeley Township and Mayor John Bacchione. They also thanked the Vo-Tech Foundation, represented at the event by Chairman Jonathan Petro, for the investment that started the build.
County Commissioners were in attendance, and Commissioner Frank Sadeghi said there were a lot of positives to this project: land and supplies were donated, students are being educated, and one day this will be home to a family.
