KSHB 41 reporter Olivia Acree covers portions of Johnson County, Kansas, including Olathe and Lenexa. Share your story idea with Olivia.
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High school students in the Kansas City area built and are auctioning off 13 playhouses outside Science City to gain hands-on experience and help address a growing workforce shortage in residential construction.
The event, called the Parade of Playhouses, is organized by the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City. Student groups from different high schools spend the year designing and constructing real structures from the ground up.
The KCHBA community relations director told me the project is a response to a growing workforce shortage. Nationwide, there are more than 100,000 open jobs in residential construction, with about 20,000 openings in the Kansas City area.
"A lot of students, they, who've been a part of this program, have gone into the industry," Jordynn Webster said.
There is also a need for nearly 60,000 new homes in Kansas City. Instilling an early interest in the industry is part of closing that gap.
"This is something kids can do right out of high school, especially kids who may not want to go to college. You can go in and have a really good, lucrative career right out of the gate with residential construction. So we just want to raise awareness for that," Webster said.
The project teaches building skills and highlights career paths in the trades.
"There's so many opportunities in skilled trades, people always feel like there's a stigma around that it's just this one thing, and there's all different types of trades, whether that be carpentry, whether that be design, whether that be plumbing, HVAC. So we just want to give kids this opportunity to know that this opportunity is out there for them," Webster said.
The 13 playhouses are being auctioned off Sunday, April 12, with bidding wrapping up at 5 p.m. Proceeds go directly back into STEM education.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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