Alton High Construction Students Mark Completion of First Home

ALTON - The Alton High School Construction Trades class is excited to announce that they have almost completed their first house.

Over the past school year, students in the Construction Trades class have worked onsite at 1 Woodland Hills Court in Alton, where they worked together to build a house from the ground up. Paul Yost, owner of Tycon Builders, oversaw the project alongside Alton Community Unit School District #11 teachers. He expressed his pride in the students as they complete the finishing touches and prepare to put the house on the market.

“It’s really, really neat to see the younger generation apply themselves to a trade,” Yost said. “They don’t know really how the trade is until they get in there and get involved. We had a good group of students this year, getting engaged. I think we had a good class.”

Yost noted the importance of giving kids hands-on experience in carpentry, construction, electrical work and more. In previous years, AHS students built houses through the J.B. Johnson Center, a program that inspired Yost’s career. But this program was discontinued 20 years ago.

Yost collaborated with AHS teachers and administrators to restart a home-building program last year. This is their first house, and the experience was everything Yost had hoped it would be.

Subcontractors helped with the HVAC, electrical, plumbing and interior finishes, but students handled every other part of the construction. S.M. Wilson, JEN Mechanical, R.P. Lumber, Fischer Lumber, Carrollton Bank, Lowe’s, Home Depot and the Alton Educational Foundation all partnered with AHS and Tycon Builders to make the project possible.

On Monday, May 18, 2026, students welcomed administrators, family members, and neighbors to the house to check out their work. Yost noted that “everybody seemed to be very excited about the project and the house.”

He hopes the experience inspires more students to pursue careers in the trades. He pointed out that Career and Technical Education (CTE) paths are becoming more popular in the high school setting, and opportunities like the home-building program are a great chance for students to learn more about their own passions and possibilities.

“It’s been quite a while since they’ve had that opportunity,” he said. “The trades are definitely needing the help. The participation in the trades by the younger generations has fallen just because it wasn’t a priority. But it’s coming back as a priority, which is really great.”

The house at 1 Woodland Hills Court will be officially complete in the next week or so, and then it will go on the market this summer. Yost and his students are eager to start their next home project. They aim to complete one house every school year.

“In a couple weeks, we should have the realtor sign in the front yard and get her on the market for the summer,” Yost said. “I think this one is going to go pretty quickly out there. It’s a beautiful subdivision and a beautiful house. It would be really wonderful to get that thing sold before we start the next one, but we’re starting the next one regardless.”

This Featured Article is sponsored by Alton Community Unit School District #11. To get your business or organization featured on www.Riverbender.com, contact us at sales@riverbender.com.

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