Eagle Ridge New Tech High School students finished an 8-by-16-foot shed built for helping a Sprague River family who lost their home in the Copperfield Fire.
Eagle Ridge New Tech’s shed is one of five sheds built in the Klamath Basin through Team Oregon Build. Mazama, Lost River, Henley, Bonanza and Chiloquin also have built or are in the process of building sheds.
Eagle Ridge New Tech instructor David Parker was presented with the task for his students which took the group four weeks to complete.
For Parker and some of his students, the tragic fire was all too real.
“It missed my house by less than an eighth of a mile and that was scary,” Parker said.
The same day Parker started his first day teaching at Eagle Ridge New Tech this school year, he was told to evacuate his home.
“I was frazzled, ripping my hair out. It was better being here, teaching teenagers than being at my friend’s hoping my house wasn’t burning down,” Parker said. “The first thing I get to do is literally for my neighbors. How’d that land in my lap.”
The project became even more heartfelt and clear for Parker, who went through a house fire years ago and lost everything.
“I lost everything but my tools because they were not in the house. They were 1950’s cedar lawn cabins I lived in so they went up so fast in that fire,” Parker said.
The storage shed Parker and his class built will go toward a family who lost three barns and have no place to put their belongings as they attempt to rebuild.
Team Oregon Build provided materials to Eagle Ridge New Tech and picked up the shed Thursday.
Team Oregon Build, which started in 2023, partners with the Bureau of Labor and Industries, the Oregon Housing Authority, Oregon Department of Education and PIVOT Architecture to provide funding for high school CTE programs. Team Oregon Build also helps with any natural disaster, helps the homeless and helps making sheds into a small home.
Parker and his class were asked by Team Oregon Build to build a duplicate shed, which Parker and Eagle Ridge New Tech Principal, Terry Bennett, agreed to without hesitation. The second shed will aim to take 15 days to finish.
Parker has 30 years worth of construction and carpentry experience, previously owning his own business and was a head project manager for Modoc Contracting.
Only two students in Parker’s class had previous experience in construction.
“My aunt and her friends lost their home through the fire and I’m just glad this will be going to someone who lost their home in the fire,” Eagle Ridge New Tech junior Rose Purkhiser said. “This was my first time in construction and I am hoping to work in the carpentry field itself.”
“The students were getting used to the shock and the feel, noise of the nail gun. The first time, one of them jumped and dropped the nail gun. The roof, they hand built every truss. Some get trusses from a company but they built every one of the triangles on the roof,” Parker said.
“They kind of knew what a hammer was; it was a crash course. Some of them are 15. I had to show them ways of using a nail gun without having the strength to use it. We are just thankful to Team Oregon Build and everyone who has helped us with the resources to finish this shed.”
Eagle Ridge New Tech instructor David Parker, right, helping his students make a shed for a Team Oregon Build project for Copperfield Fire Victims at Eagle Ridge New Tech High School.
