A dream was realized when members of the Lely High School Construction Academy completed their third house, highlighted by a ribbon cutting ceremony.

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The newest ribbon cutting and open house ceremony took place at 5385 Trammel Street in Naples Manor. A host of dignitaries, along with the entire crew of Lely student builders were on hand for the historic event.

The Lely High School Construction Program has been an inspiration for many young minds and shaping many lives in the Marco Island community.

Beginning with a few students in 2000, the program now has 1,200 students from three high schools. The architecture, engineering, and drafting programs are under the leadership of Greg Foote, the academy director.

Central to the Lely program, and to the newest house on Trammel Street in East Naples, has been eight Marco Island students who participated in the project. Samantha Wilson, Gerrit Ralph, Dokotan Gutierrez, Shane Spezza, Lazaro Martinez, Trevor Luts, Jeff Kutzke, and Nick Lindburg were proud of their efforts.

For Lindburg, a Lely senior, the opportunity to actually construct a dwelling from the ground up has made a deep impact on his future plans.

“I’m going to the University of Central Florida this fall and will be majoring in engineering,” Lindburg said. “This experience in house construction has really helped me decide what I want to do with my life. As a result, the construction business has become a definite possibility for me and I’m looking forward to using the things I learned in engineering as well.”

Kutzke, a junior, said, “Working on a project such as this might seem to take up a lot of somebody’s time to some people. But you know what? It’s not the time, it’s the heart that matters.”

With this house and the others preceding it, students have been recognized at state and national levels and have earned the respect of the Home Builders Institute.

Collier Building Industry Association, with Future Builders of America, chartered by the National Association of Home Builders, are teaching a young work force innovative skills that are yielding positive results. The program also has the approval and support from local builders and the Collier County School Board.

“I was always playing with building blocks when I was growing up in Michigan,” said Wilson, a junior. “As a matter of fact, the best Christmas present I ever received was a box of Legos one year.”

Wilson was in a similar inschool construction program in Michigan and loved it.

“When my family and I moved to Marco about a year ago, the first thing I did when I started at Lely was join its construction program,” he said. “Now that this house is ready to go for sale on the market, I can’t wait to get started on the next one. That should be in about another month, hopefully.”

Foote said, “We are extremely proud of our students.”

Lely Principal Ken Faribanks is very pleased with the support given by the Collier Building Industry Association and the Collier Building Industry Foundation for a very unique opportunity.

“This is an example of the true rigor and relevance in our school’s curriculum,” he said.

Foote said everything the students have learned can be taken with them in life.

“This project is an excellent reference for any portfolio or resume,” he explained.

Howard Berryman, the district’s director of Workforce Education summed up the program by saying, “This academy prepares students to enter the construction trades right out of high school, or allows them to proceed into post-secondary education as well. The skills learned here are the foundation for engineers and architects.”