It’s not everyday that a high school student can put on his resume that he designed, implemented and carried out a renovation project for a business. But that’s exactly what one Greene County High School junior is currently doing.

Colby Aspengren pitched an idea to renovate the third floor apartment space of the Prairie Lakes Area Education Agency building on the north side of the square in Jefferson. Not only did the Prairie Lakes executives approve his plan, but Aspengren teamed up with Jefferson Matters: Main Street and received a $35,500 Challenge Grant through Iowa Economic Development Authority and Main Street Iowa. Prairie Lakes AEA Board provided $25,000 and Greene County Development Corporation gave another $10,500 in matching funds.

Aspengren and his fellow classmates in the high school construction class are helping carry out his vision. The students are also building a new house on East Wilcox Way simultaneously. Aspengren describes his feeling about seeing his idea come to fruition.

“There’s a huge difference of working at the school house and then working here. It’s great seeing something you worked really hard on start to take shape. When we first threw our first hammers through the wall, I mean it was like, ‘This is happening.’ It’s a great feeling.”

Instructor Chad Morman says it’s a great opportunity for the students to get even more real-world experience, outside of the classroom.

“The difference between new construction and remodeling like this is you don’t know what you are getting into. Until we tear it out in the demo, the kids can’t actually see why someone did it this way or why something was crooked, and we have to figure out how to adjust that. It’s not as cut and dry as, ‘This is the only way you do it.’ They get to see, ‘Okay that didn’t work so I’ve got to fabricate what I can to make it structurally sound, look decent with something that might not be as eye-appealing as it was before.”

Morman adds that the goal is to have the new home completed by the end of the school year and have the renovated apartment ready for sub-contractors to do work in the summer and finish it by the end of the calendar year.