Local students finish year-long project of newly renovated, solar-powered mobile home. Now, it could be yours.
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IDAHO FALLS – After nearly a year of hard work, some local students are finished with the complete renovation of a school bus they’ve transformed into a fully functioning mobile home.
Over 130 students at the Career Technical Education Center have worked since December to revamp an old special education school bus, now nicknamed the “Skoolie,” into what is now a solar-powered, fully-insulated mobile home.
Travis Summers, the industrial mechanics instructor at CTEC, says the students have worked hard to accomplish such a big project.
“This is a full-on, livable, year-round motorhome,” says Summers. “Everything is handmade.”
After buying the vehicle, a 2007 Thomas TK school bus with a CAT C-7 engine, from a junkyard for $7,000, the students have redone the floors, taken out all of the seats, raised the ceiling 10 inches, created two booths and a table that fold into a bed, added a bedroom and a bathroom, and finished the plumbing for an entirely workable sink, oven and stove — all over the last 11 months.
“It’s a fully functional motorhome. It’s solar-powered,” says Summers. “We took all of the bus windows out, and we actually tore down an RV that was donated to us. So we got a lot of the parts from there, but not all of them.”
One of the students who worked on the projects, CTEC high school junior Kaden Pearson, says it’s been a lot of work, with a great payoff.
“It’s part of our class. Last year I was in the maintenance mechanics class, and then this year I’m in the construction class,” says Pearson. “Last year, we did a lot of the tearing apart and mechanical things, then this year, we’ve done all of the finish work in the construction class with all of the cabinets and everything.”
For Summers, this was about teaching kids to do hands-on projects and learn about themselves and their boundaries in the process.
“You just start at the beginning. Most of them don’t even know what tools are until they get into this class. We start with safety, all of the OSHA stuff, and then we progress into hand tools and find out who’s got dexterity, and who can use them,” says Summers. “Then we do power tools, then we go into welding, and we just finished blueprint reading and writing, and we will start rigging this week. They’ll be getting their forklift certifications next week.”
The mobile home, nearly fully equipped with LED lights, a marble sink cover, brand new cabinets and cupboards, a propane fridge, and a rock-climbing wall on the outside, will be sold to a member of the public, as the school is accepting bids beginning Thursday. Bids accepted until Dec. 7.
Send your sealed bids to Jessica Swartwood, the school district’s comptroller, at the D91 District Office at 690 John Adams Parkway, Idaho Falls, ID, 84301.
Bids will be accepted through noon Dec. 7. The minimum bid is $48,000.
All funds made from the selling of the bus will go towards the students’ next project — the construction of a tiny house — as well as paying for them to participate in upcoming Skills USA competitions.
“The amount of work the students have put into this project is incredible,” said CTEC Coordinator Bev Hott in a news release from Idaho Falls School District 91. “It was amazing to watch the students grow as they worked independently and in groups to gain the knowledge and experience they’ll need for future jobs.”
Those who would like to see the Skoolie can call CTEC at (208) 525-7549 to make an appointment.
To learn more about the bid submission process and appraisal here.