Eagle Nest Construction Education Academy
By Jerry Crocilla, Career Academy Coordinator
Eagle Nest is the construction education academy at Atlantic Community High School in Delray Beach. The project is a great example of school and community working together to meet educational goals as well as providing a service to the community. In a city desperate for affordable housing, Eagle Nest will return a modern three bedroom two bath home that a deserving resident will turn into a family home. The Eagle Nest home was student designed and student built. The city demonstrated its commitment to education by donating a vacant lot and a zero interest construction loan. The house will be sold to the city's Community Improvement Agency for their affordable housing program.
Four teams of Atlantic HS drafting students competed in a city sponsored contest to select the eventual design turned into buildable blue prints. Working with industry partners along the way, Eagle Nest students did nearly every residential construction task from excavation to laying block, to the air conditioning to the landscape. Eagle Nest students got a hands-on look of what could await them if they choose to move on in their construction careers. The goal of the program is to eventually become fiscally self sufficient as profits from the sale of the house will be returned to Atlantic's Construction Academy. Plans being developed for next year are focused on rehabilitating a local foreclosed house and turning it into a home that will be as green as green can be.
