Ann Arbor student building program celebrates 40th anniversary with open house

Frank McVeigh is a Realtor with Charles Reinhart and has been on the board for the Ann Arbor student building program since the late 1980s.

He said the program itself “has a secure financial foundation” and isn’t in jeopardy— what is at stake is the ability to continue giving out scholarships to graduates of the program so they can continue their education.

“Every year, the program typically generates profits from the sale of the house,” McVeigh said. “The profits go back to fund the scholarship program. The last three years, every year it's cost more to build the home than we’re able to sell it for. 

"So the future of the scholarship program was in jeopardy, and we went into fundraising mode.”

To make sure that three scholarships awarded to graduates of the program each year will remain fully funded, the board of directors kicked off a fundraising campaign last fall.

Tom McMullen, scholarship chair for the student building trades program, said 10 teams of about seven people each were established and asked to call on businesses and community members to raise funds. So far, he said, those efforts have raised a little over $40,000 toward a goal of $125,000 over four years.

“It’s going OK, but I wouldn’t say fundraising is booming,” McMullen said. He said board members are hoping for a better price on this year’s house, but in the meantime, they’re also pursuing other cost-savings measures, such as asking suppliers for free or discounted building materials.

Additional help came this spring from Huron Valley Financial, which sponsored a charity golf outing to benefit Ann Arbor’s program as well as the South and West Washtenaw Consortium student building program that serves Dexter, Chelsea, Manchester, Saline and Milan.

Eric Bradley, president and CEO of Huron Valley, offered to be the organizer for the golf outing after receiving an inquiry from McVeigh.

“I had a very vague knowledge of the program and its existence,” Bradley said. “I was unaware of the fact that this program received a large portion of its funding from sales of homes. When Frank explained how the decline in the real estate market had affected the program, I understood pretty quickly the scope of their funding problem in trying to keep the scholarship program going.”

The firm advertised the golf event as Huron Valley’s “first annual” outing and Bradley said they plan to keep using it to raise funds for student building programs. This year, despite a cool, rainy day for the outing, 80 golfers showed up, and raised a total of $4,000, which was split between the Ann Arbor program and the SWWC program.

“I recognize that there are tons of good causes that we could choose to take up,” Bradley said. “But I guess it just really hit me that here’s a program I’m familiar with that’s attached to our industry. An awful lot of kids participate in the program. I was shocked at the (end of year) banquet to see how many local builders came up through this program back in the '80s and '90s.”

Bob Chizek, president of the Ann Arbor student building program’s board, said, overall, the program “is in wonderful shape.”

“The program has a longstanding history of success in the Ann Arbor School system,” he said. Since it was implemented in the 1970s, Chizek said, about 1,000 students have gone through the program.

“The program is about building a house, but it’s much more than that,” Chizek said. “It’s about teamwork, self-esteem and hard work under adverse conditions Michigan throws at them. It’s also one of the best programs for kids’ self-esteem. It’s a non-traditional classroom, and yet you have the ability to teach skills in communication, math and teamwork. You have to have good communication skills when you’re up on a roof in the middle of January.”

Chizek said he thinks the program has worked well for 40 years in part because of the “unique relationship between philanthropic and private businesses and the willingness of the schools and the community to do something non-traditional.”

“When we’re asking for contributions out in the community, we’re having to answer questions about why a program like this should be included (in the high school curriculum),” Chizek said. “Because education is certainly about learning the sciences, but it’s also about learning to make a living. This is pragmatism at its finest. It’s a wonderful program, and the kids are going to learn life skills they’ll carry with them for a long, long time.”

Community members who are interested in seeing the current student-built house, at 2387 Earl Shaffer Drive, can do so during an open house planned for 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.

Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and a frequent contributor to AnnArbor.com. You can reach her at sarahrigg@yahoo.com.