Jacksonville’s Englewood High School’s BEAM career academy for the building, engineering, architect and manufacturing industries received a check for $10,000 last month from Mannington Mills, Inc. to go towards their senior class project, building a HabiJax house.
The academy began as a partnership with the Northeast Florida Builders Association to connect students with their career interests.
Seniors Chris Hollo, Rebecca Briceno, Christina Conde, Matthew Bellamy Jr. and James Belyea made a presentation to Mannington Mills’ Mark Stade, the company’s Southeast builder manager, and general manager Doug Evans on behalf of the BEAM Career Academy Leadership Board, composed of about 20 students.
NEFBA member Doug Gillogly serves as the board’s business and marketing advisor along with academy coordinator Bob Douce. The seniors and other volunteers will be building the house for the local affiliate of Habitat for Humanity in April.
“NEFBA board member Lee Arsenault and Howard White have been instrumental in the growth of the academy,” said Douce. “The academy really began during White’s term as president of the builders group.”
The HabiJax project is a Senior Class Capstone project. Other academy projects supported by NEFBA include building a gazebo for the high school and neighboring middle and elementary schools, a ninth-grade math and industry speaker program, job shadowing in the construction industry and community service hours with Builders Care, a NEFBA program that repairs severely damaged houses belonging to the elderly and disadvantaged.
Also on hand for last month’s presentation were Jon Thompson, the Duval County School Board regional superintendent; Jacksonville City Council member Suzanne Jenkins, an Englewood graduate: and HabiJax President Joe Honeycutt.