RIPLEY High student, Sky Harkins, has always enjoyed hands-on projects around the home where she could create and build.
It is one of the reasons why her parents encouraged her to look at carpentry as a future career.
With their blessing she contacted Ipswich based Apprenticeships Queensland and asked for their guidance.
They enrolled her in their Building Futures Project which involves school students taste testing a trade while helping to bring old homes back to life in Ipswich.
The project has been running for a number of years and so far six homes have been completely gutted and renovated.
Early this year Sky joined 10 other high school students to learn from trades qualified supervisors in a real-life work opportunity.
The students went into a weekly roster to work on a dilapidated home in Flint Street, North Ipswich.
The transformation over the past 10 months now sees the house go onto the market at more than $700,000.
Once the home is sold the profits raised will go back into the Future Project to fund more renovation projects allowing more school students to get a taste of what life would be like as an apprentice tradesperson.
Sky said the experience had cemented her belief that she wanted to take on carpentry as a career.
“It was hard work at times, but all of the students enjoyed the project and we all became friends,” she said.
Presently 13 local schools have committed to supporting students looking to be part of the project.
