Floyd High School Students Experience Hands-On Learning in Design

At the New River Valley Home Builders Association, we believe in investing in the future of the building industry. Through our microgrant program, we are proud to support local schools and programs that introduce students to the wide range of rewarding careers in construction. One recent recipient of our microgrant funding was the Technical Drawing and Design class at Floyd County High School.

This grant gave students in Technical Drawing and Design a chance to learn more about architectural design and construction as well as get hands-on practice to build a small-scale model house. This opportunity was a first for this course since they have a very limited budget for the consumable materials and extra tools needed for this type of project.  With the help of the grant funds, we were able to go beyond just manually drawing and CADD to offer the chance to build a small model of their creation.  The students loved it, and many went above and beyond to make their house look good.

The project began with each student designing a small house (between 600 and 1,000 square feet). They started by sketching floor plans and elevations. Then came more formal technical drawings using stencils and tools to add rooms, dimensions, and furniture/appliance layouts. From there, students used Autodesk Fusion 360 to create a 3D virtual model of their design. The final step was building a physical scale model using an equal share of wooden materials provided through the grant.

What was most rewarding was the impact on student interest in the field. Many students expressed a new appreciation for architectural design and construction, and several have since enrolled in higher-level design courses.

We’re proud to support programs like this. If you're an educator or program leader interested in bringing hands-on construction learning to your students, learn more about our microgrant opportunities here.