Media Coverage

Students from Leominster City Schools will Hammer for Habitat

By Anna L. Griffin

LEOMINSTER, MA, May 14, 2006 - The upcoming Habitat for Humanity project in the city will not only be student built, it will be student designed. Three students from Leominster High School and the Center for Technical Education at Leominster High School worked on plans for the approximately 1,200-square-foot home that is being built for members of the Lozado family; Luis and Magdalena Lozada and their children Adrian, 6, and Meralis, 3.

"To have the students involved with this project at this stage, it's very important for us," said George Luoto, CTE director. "We're giving our students the chance to be involved with a project at a level that they normally would not be. It was really a golden opportunity for both students and our faculty."

The house will be built by students from the Center for Technical Education as part of its house building program. The city is donating land at Spruce and Whitney streets for the house. A groundbreaking ceremony will be held next month with preliminary work on the site to follow. Construction of the house should start when school starts up again in the fall. Michael Rannikko, a Computer Aided Design and Drafting instructor at CTE, said he presented the idea of working on a design for the house to students in his drafting class. Several of the students are regular students at Leominster High School who are taking some of their classes at CTE.

"I spoke with the class in general, and then, a couple of the students expressed interest in being involved with this project - working on the designs - and I encouraged them to pursue it," Mr. Rannikko said.

Michael McDuff, a senior at Leominster High School and Nathan Friend, a senior at CTE, worked on one design and Christina DiNinno, a senior at Leominster High School, worked on another design. The committee working with the family chose the design of Miss DiNinno for the house project.

Over the past several months, the students worked closely with Mr. Rannikko and other instructors at CTE to ensure that all elements of a workable design were included. The students had the chance to meet with those who would be working on the project - such as volunteers from the community - as well as the Lozado family.

"I think actually meeting the family was very important to me," said Miss DiNinno. "Talking to them about what they were looking for, things that were important to them, really helped lead me in a certain direction."

"You realize that what you're working on isn't just a plan," Mr. McDuff said. "It's going to be someone's home. I think it's going to be awesome to see the house actually going on, regardless of which plan is chosen," he said. "You know that you had a part in the process."

One of the meetings the students had was with Donna Martin. Ms. Martin is a therapist who has been working with Meralis, the younger of the two Lozado children. Meralis has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair. Ms. Martin was working with the students to help express to them the needs of an individual who uses a wheelchair.

"It's very important to make sure the wheelchair can move freely in the house; that Meralis has access to parts of the house just like every other member," she said to the students. "It's also important for safety reasons that Meralis is able to get out of the house and away from it safely in the event of an emergency, such as a fire," she said.

The students said the process of working on the design was at times difficult, but ultimately rewarding.

"There were a lot of things that went on in the process, things that were brought up that you never would have thought of if you didn't work on this," Mr. Friend said. "It was definitely worthwhile," Mr. McDuff said.

All three students will continue their education this fall. Miss DiNinno will attend Endicott College, Peabody, for interior design; Mr. McDuff will attend UMass-Amherst and would like to major in architecture, and Mr. Friend will attend New Hampshire Technical Institute, Concord, N.H., to major in engineering.