High school students get hands-on career experience while building a tiny office

You've heard of tiny houses, but some high schoolers are building a tiny office.

It's part of the Kirkwood Jones County Regional Center career exploration program.

The college has partnered with eight school districts - Monticello, Anamosa, Midland, Central City, Cascade, Maquoketa Valley, Springville and North Cedar - to bring this education to high school students.

They have two and a half hour sessions in the morning and afternoon, with almost 320 students participating in total.

The students working on the tiny house are learning all about architecture and construction.

Student Kolby Soper says he's found his true calling in construction work.

"I just like seeing from just a hole in the ground to seeing a finished house, it's just really cool," he said.

And when this tiny office is finished, construction crews will use it on site.

Instructors say the best part of their program is that it gives the students an opportunity to learn about different careers before applying to colleges.

It also begins the conversation about college for those students who haven't even considered it as an option.

The program offers 11 academies, with nine being career focused. Those are Architecture Construction Engineering (ACE), IT Careers, Patient Care, EMT, Auto Tech, Graphics, Project lead the way (Pre-engineering), Advanced Manufacturing/Welding and Hotel Management.

To be in the program, students have to apply to Kirkwood and meet the college's requirements for coursework.

The students get both high school and college credit towards Kirkwood.

There's no direct cost to the students.

Tuition, books and all fees are covered by their school district and the district receives funding from the state to help cover cost.