{"id":32125,"date":"2025-11-02T17:36:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T17:36:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/32125\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T17:36:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T17:36:16","slug":"northside-construction-high-schoolers-build-home-for-a-veteran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/32125\/","title":{"rendered":"Northside construction high schoolers build home for a veteran"},"content":{"rendered":"

A steady thrum of clanking, nailing and buzzing fills the air behind the Construction Careers Academy, a magnet high school on the North West side of town for students pursuing the building arts.<\/p>\n

Wearing hard hats and tool belts, two dozen seniors are building two tiny homes, the usual projects for the school\u2019s upperclassmen. One of the houses is getting special attention \u2014 once it\u2019s built, the home will go to a military veteran from San Antonio.<\/p>\n

School officials dubbed the project \u201cHome for a Hero.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe put all of our like emotions and pride into this house to make that veteran\u2019s dream come true,\u201d Aliyah Ocampo, a 17-year-old senior at CCA, said. Before being interviewed, Ocampo was working on the sidings of the tiny home.<\/p>\n

Ocampo has been at CCA all four yours of high school. She plans to study criminology or criminal justice in college, but she enrolled there because she wants to help her parents with repairs around their home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just recently helped my mom when it came to plumbing and fixing the walls,\u201d she said. \u201cInstead of hiring a plumber an electrician that costs like $1,000 or $100, I plan to use my construction knowledge to build or fix my own house.\u201d<\/p>\n

At CCA, a school with an enrollment of about 500, students take introductory construction courses and then pick one or more of several industry paths: plumbing, electrical work, architecture, engineering, construction management or carpentry. It\u2019s one of several magnet school offerings inside Northside Independent School District.<\/p>\n

The academy sits on the Wagner High School campus where construction students take their core classes. CCA offers several industry-based certifications: OSHA 10, NCCER Core, NCCER Level 1 and 2 in Plumbing, Electrical and Carpentry, AutoCAD, Revit and Land Surveying<\/p>\n

Jason Paul, a construction management teacher, quietly watched as his students buzzed around the work site. His approach is very hands-off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just turn them loose, and I really don\u2019t have to do much, other than they just come and find me for questions,\u201d Paul said. \u201cThey\u2019re very highly motivated. I usually have to beg them to stop working at the end of the day, which is very unlike most classes.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\"\"Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\"\"Construction management teacher Jason Paul, left, and Construction Careers Academy senior Johnathan Suarez measure where material needs to be cut for wall outlets during class on Oct. 24. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

His senior class has been working on two homes, one of them for a veteran, since they were juniors. The donated veteran home is one of the largest builds CCA students have taken on.<\/p>\n

It sits on a 64-foot chassis, but students usually build tiny homes on 24-foot trailers. Paul has affectionally nicknamed project as the M.O.A.B, the Mother of All Builds.<\/p>\n

\u201cHome for a Hero\u201d is a completely donation-based project, said CCA programs coordinator Lesford Dixon, the mastermind behind the project.<\/p>\n

Last year, Dixon reached out to the American GI Forum, a statewide organization that helps veterans with workforce development and housing, offering to donate one of the school\u2019s tiny homes for a veteran to live in. <\/p>\n

Dixon also convinced several local businesses to donate the materials used to build the home. The chassis, for example, was donated by Alamo Transport.<\/p>\n

Since students started on the project during the 2024-25 school year, they\u2019ve framed the house and installed electrical wiring and plumbing. Now, students are focusing on the house\u2019s interior.<\/p>\n

The 970-square-foot home features two bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen, living room space and three mini-split air conditioning units. Dixon makes sure everything is up to code and works closely with the city on permits.<\/p>\n

All of the CCA tiny homes, Dixon said, are made with the best building materials and modern appliances. Normally, the school puts the homes up for sale at the end of the school year to cover the cost of student materials. CCA is currently selling a converted school bus home and brown wooden tiny home.<\/p>\n

\u201cHome for a Hero,\u201d however, is an exception. <\/p>\n

Sergio Dickerson, CEO and president of American GI Forum, said he can remember attending the groundbreaking for this project one year ago. At that time, it was just a wooden base. Walking through the work site as students hammered about and a DeWalt radio played country and ranchera music, \u2014 he couldn\u2019t help but be impressed.<\/p>\n

\"\"Construction Careers Academy students carry building material into a home they are working on. The home will be outfitted with a bedroom, restroom, kitchen and laundry areas and even a loft. Credit: Amber Esparza \/ San Antonio Report<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think it was gonna look like that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Most of the veterans Dickerson works with are either underserved or without homes. His team will be choosing one \u201cworthy\u201d veteran, currently housed by American GI Forum, to donate the student-built house to. The veteran will have to meet a few criteria, Dicker said.<\/p>\n

They will be responsible for the home\u2019s upkeep, property taxes and will be responsible for the land it will eventually sit on. The vet should also have the ability to pay for utilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very exciting to know that a veteran\u2019s mouth is going to drop when they see where they\u2019re going to live,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

CCA students have a May 9 deadline on the \u201cHome for a Hero.\u201d Dixon is confident his students will have it done by then.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids\u2019 level \u2014 they just rise to the occasion,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A steady thrum of clanking, nailing and buzzing fills the air behind the Construction Careers Academy, a magnet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32126,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[20918,20919,11226,6547,82,84,83,92,3028,20920],"class_list":{"0":"post-32125","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-american-gi-forum","9":"tag-construction-careers-academy","10":"tag-magnet-schools","11":"tag-northside-isd","12":"tag-san-antonio","13":"tag-san-antonio-headlines","14":"tag-san-antonio-news","15":"tag-top-story","16":"tag-typedaily","17":"tag-veterans-in-san-antonio"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32125","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32125"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32125\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}