Impromptu hula generated sunny smiles, as dedicated the college’s 50th built by students and handed the keys to the new homeowner, Luana Dang and her family.

“�Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� Community College is nō ka ʻoi,” said Dang. “I hope my grandchildren come here.”

Students in five �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� CC programs built the home. More than 4,000 students have participated since the Model Home project was established in 1965, to give students in construction trade programs a hands-on learning experience.

• Related: �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� CC reunion celebrates 50 years of model homes, April 13, 2017

“You just learn so many world experiences,” said student Keoki Baily. “After this you can go outside and build your own house.”

“This project has meant a lot to me because it helps us to get ready for the outside field of work,” said student Tyson Ah Puck.

The acts as the developer, while �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� CC provides the skilled labor at no cost, resulting in an affordable home for a local family.

Carpentry Professor Gene Harada, who built model homes as a student and graduated from �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� CC in 1975, is a shining example of how the program continues to give back to the community.

“We’ve been very fortunate that so far I have 15 past graduates since 1991 that have gotten their contractors license and they are coming back to hire our students,” said Harada.

Here’s to the next 50 years, �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� Community College!

See at the �Ჹ�ɲ���ʻ�� CC flickr.

—By Kelli Trifonovitch

Alumni and Friends will be celebrating with a reunion on April 28, 5:30–9 p.m. at the University of �鶹��ý Hilo Campus Center Dining Room. The reunion is a chance for alumni and friends to reconnect with classmates, instructors and others in the construction industry.

The was established in 1965, and the first home was completed in 1966. Nearly every year since, students in construction trade programs have designed and built a custom home for a local family. Since the program’s inception, the Model Home Project has provided more than 4,000 �鶹��ý CC students with valuable hands-on experience.

, or contact Lori Medeiros at lmedeiro@hawaii.edu or (808) 934-2518 for tickets and sponsorship options.

A Native Hawaiian family in Hilo received keys to a new home today that was custom built from the ground up by students during the past academic year. The college, the family and community partners dedicated the home in the Keaukaha area of Hilo on Thursday, May 12.

The home was built as part of �鶹��ý Community College’s . The Model Home Project was established in 1965, and this year students completed the 49th home constructed through the project.

It takes a team

�鶹��ý CC students in a variety of construction trades programs receive valuable hands-on experience each year by designing, building and landscaping the home.

Students in the college’s design the home; students build the home; students in the install the photovoltaic system; students provide equipment maintenance; students landscape the lot; and members of the conduct the blessing ceremony.

The homes are built with many green features in keeping with the college’s commitment to sustainability. The homes comes with a solar water heater system, a photovoltaic system and many other features such as Energy Star qualified appliances, low v.o.c. paints and more.

Photos from the dedication

View more photos on the .

More about the Model Home Project

The Model Home Project is a partnership with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands acts as the developer and �鶹��ý CC provides the skilled labor force while educating students.

Since the program was founded, more than 3,960 students in �鶹��ý CC construction trades programs have benefited from hands-on experience through the Model Home Project.

UH News video on 46th model home

, May 10, 2013

—By Thatcher Moats

Another brand new home has been designed and constructed by students in Hilo, �鶹��ý.

This is the 46th home built by the college since the school launched its in 1965. The best part of the program, according to students and organizers: the annual ceremony where the house keys are officially turned over to the new homeowner.

“Oh it felt great,” said Fred Palea, the lucky Hawaiian Home Lands lessee right after he walked into his new home for the first time. “I am really ecstatic and excited about this house and it feels warm, welcoming, and I think our family is really going to enjoy this house.”

The three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,800-square-foot home includes a carport, solar water heating, a photovoltaic system, landscaping with native plants and an aquaponics garden.

It is all thanks to the hard work of more than 70 �鶹��ý CC students from a wide range of programs offered at the college—drafting, carpentry, electrical, agriculture, welding and diesel mechanics.

“I have been working real hard for this day, waiting for it to come,” said �鶹��ý CC carpentry student Jacob Ramos. “We learn everything on this house, everything from foundation to finish.”

“We never get to meet the family until today,” added Kiliona Young, a �鶹��ý CC agriculture student. “But you know, they were just thoughts in our head. So all of the things we did, we were imagining this family, then today they get to turn it over and to be part of a big event like this, it was an honor.”

More than 2,700 students have participated in the Model Home Program over the years, gaining valuable on-the-job experience.

“The contractors that hire them, they always come back and they always comment to us, you know the students and how confident they are,” said �鶹��ý CC carpentry professor Gene Harada. “And that’s what we are trying to do for them.”

Creating affordable housing is a key component of the program, a partnership between �鶹��ý Community College and the . The home designed and constructed by the students in 2013 would have cost close to $300,000 to build, but thanks to the Model Home Program, it cost $186,000, according to Harada.

“It’s a very good win-win for us,” said Darrell Young of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. “We act as the developer and the students act as our construction labor and it gives them an opportunity to have a trade.”

And every year, it gives a local family an opportunity to turn the dream of owning a home into a reality.

“I couldn’t dream that they could have done this but it’s excellent,” said Palea. “And I know we have good tradesmen that’s coming up in the future.”

�鶹��ý CC students will begin work on home number 47 in the 2013 fall semester.

Every year, like clockwork, the at in Hilo, are hard at work, in and out of the classroom.

“We get the hands-on and class assignments. We learn inside the class and then come outside and do it step by step,” said carpentry student Kai Respicio.

“High school you learn the basics, but over here you learn everything from foundation to finish,” agreed fellow carpentry student Jacob Ramos.

The two-year program has a maximum of 16 students per year who can earn either a certificate of achievement, or an associate degree if they take the required core classes. Each year, the class builds a family home on Hawaiian Homelands. So far, the students in the college’s have constructed 45 homes.

“They have the hands-on experience of building a model home,” said carpentry professor Gene Harada. “All the way from the foundation to actually doing the framing, the roof applications, sidings and also the fabrication of the custom built cabinets for each house.”

“I think it is very important,” said Respicio. “You get the experience before you go outside and you know like half the stuff that you do.”

Students from the college’s drafting, electrical, diesel and agriculture programs also gain valuable real world experience. Experience that immediately pays off for the carpentry students. If they are accepted into the carpenter’s union, they are automatically credited with a thousand work hours and four hundred classroom hours.

“Hope this is going to lead me, to the future, to be one contractor,” said Ramos. “That’s my ultimate goal.”

The �鶹��ý Community College carpentry program helped Harada achieve his goals. He graduated from the program in 1975.

“Actually, when I was here, I did help build number 11 house for the program,” said Harada. “Based on what I went through and what I did in the industry, it’s a great skill to learn, especially going into industry with the knowledge that you obtained from this program.”

“I love this program,” said Ramos. “I like stay here a couple more years if can.”

Under a partnership between the and , a home built by students in the college’s was dedicated this month in the Hawaiian homestead community of Keaukaha on �鶹��ý Island.

Students in the program turned over the keys to a three-bedroom, two-bath home that they built for the department at a cost to the future homeowner of $199,935.

Hawaiian Home Lands beneficiary Denice Keliʻikoa is the prospective homeowner for the home. She has been on the Hawaiian homes waiting list since January 1986.

A traditional Hawaiian ceremony called moku ka piko, meaning the cutting of the umbilical cord, was performed to initiate the new home. The symbolic piko was made of plant materials gathered by �鶹��ý Community College students and woven together, with each plant possessing a specific reason for its use.

This year’s model home comes equipped with a solar water heater system and a 4KW photovoltaic system. Many other green features were incorporated, including Energy Star qualified appliances, Energy Star metal roofing and radiant barrier sheathing, low VOC paints, CFL lighting and native plant landscaping.

Watch a video of the dedication event covered by .

�鶹��ý Community College Model Home Program

The model home program provides vocational technical students an opportunity to obtain job skills through the construction of a house that is sold to a �鶹��ý family as an affordable home.

This is the 45th home to be built under this program, which began in 1965. Since its inception, over 3,630 �鶹��ý Community College drafting, carpentry, electrical, agriculture, welding and diesel students have participated in the program and gained on-the-job experience in home construction.

The model home program was initiated as part of the instructional program at �鶹��ý Community College. The Architectural, Engineering and CAD Technologies program designs the home and the Carpentry program carries out the basic construction.

The Agriculture program designs and furnishes the minimal, low maintenance landscape and maintains the grounds until the home is accepted by the prospective owner.

The Machine, Welding and Industrial Mechanics Technologies program provides equipment and labor to lift and install the pre-trusses. The Diesel Mechanics program does the grubbing, landscaping and mulching of the shrub and trees to be used for landscaping with assistance from the Department of Transportation.

�鶹��ý Community College also coordinates the painting, plumbing, and drywall subcontracting work.