The students rehabbing Mt. Prospect’s first general store and post office have been building not only walls and floors, but also their options for a better future.
Helping them through the project has been the village’s building commissioner, who has become so involved with the students that he has effectively become another one of their teachers and mentors.
Under a cooperative effort between the Village of Mt. Prospect and Township High School District 214, students from Forest View Alternative School and Nipper Career Education Center have been at work since last fall renovating the 120-year-old, two-story frame building.
When completed in June, the village-owned building, which was moved in September to its current location on Pine Street near the downtown, will be leased as commercial and retail space.
The project is one of the most ambitious yet for students from the schools. Previous projects included building sheds and picnic benches, but this project has a much broader scope, said Tom Byrne, a teacher at Forest View.
It also allows students at the two schools, which specialize in teaching kids with learning and behavioral problems, to learn academic subjects outside the classroom.
“We thought that we could get these kids out there doing math skills, reading skills, estimating skills, by using hands-on methods,” Byrne said. “(By) renovating a building, you can touch on all the skills needed in most academic domains.”
Students alternate every other day between working at the site and attending regular classes. The work has taught the students all aspects of the renovation process, including roofing, carpentry, stripping the exterior and gutting the interior.
Bill Gutzman, 17, of Elk Grove Village was involved in building sheds during the last school year and was surprised at the amount of work involved in rehabbing a building.
“I thought it would be much easier than it was,” Gutzman said. “It’s easier to build something from scratch.”
Mt. Prospect Building Commissioner William George was asked to oversee the project. But his involvement has gone beyond merely watching others do the work–he also has taken an active interest in helping the students learn.
“He’s just been invaluable,” Byrne said. “We needed someone to go to who was an expert. Any time there’s a problem, he comes out.”
George recently received a Distinguished Service Award from the school district for his work and help with the renovation.
Teaching and interacting with the students has been the most significant aspect of the project for George. He said the project has shown the students “that there are other things out there than just college. Not everybody is college-bound.
“If I can just give something I have back to kids, and it makes a difference in their lives, that’s the most gratifying thing I can do.”
Over time, George has seen the students’ sense of pride grow with their accomplishments. And although he first noticed a lackadaisical attitude among the students, lately he has seen their interest level rising.
George recalled one student whose attitude toward a particularly tedious work assignment was, “This is boring, what am I doing this for?”
Then George explained that the task could keep a fire from spreading to other parts of the building, protecting the occupants and also the firefighters.
“You could actually see the lights in his eyes go on and it was like, `Wow, I am really doing something important,’ even though it seems like menial labor that is unnecessary,” George said.
Gerri Songer, a teacher at Forest View, said one of her students has been absent regularly on the days when his class is at school, but rarely misses the days when they are on-site at the project.
“Without this he wouldn’t have a very bright future,” Songer said. “It’s going to mean a lot to him.”
