The Interior Alaska Building Association Home Show isn’t just for two-legged residents — it’s also a place that goes to the dogs, said IBEA President Brannon Richart.
Several dog houses built by students from Hutchison, Lathrop, and North Pole high schools will be raffled off at the Home Show on Sunday, March 30.
Richart said IABA helped gather sponsors for all three high school shop programs to build the dog houses as part of a competition. Attendees will be able to vote on their favorite dog house that will be on display throughout the home show and will have the option to purchase raffle tickets.
“Whichever group of individual kids built the most popular house will get to split $500 in award money to spend on tools and stuff,” Richart said. “The competition has been super popular so far.”
The competition’s sponsors include Spenard Builders Supply, Intella Homes and Rivers Wood Products.
The contest guidelines stipulate that the dog houses can be of any architectural design but have a maximum footprint of 3-feet by 5-feet and a maximum height of 54 inches.
The winning school that sells the most tickets will receive a $1,500 prize from Mt. McKinley and a pizza party for the shop class. Any raffle ticket proceeds go directly to the selling school’s shop program.
Raffle winners will get a dog house, which they can take the dog house home or donate it to a local charity.
“This is a great competition and it’s getting kids into the trades,” Richart said. “I’ve been doing a lot of hands-on with students, bringing a couple of other contractors who are IABA board members to a few schools.”
He noted that while not all students enter the trades, Richart said they are much more likely to enter such a field if exposed to vocational trade programs in high school.
“It seems like once you get the tools in their hands, it’s something they start to like and when there’s a great future in it,” Richart said. Richart said he recently hired some 18-year-old high school graduates.
“We’d like to see more trades get involved and with the uncertainty of funding for schools these days, we thought it would be a great way for the industry to partner with the schools and local vendors,” he said.
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