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| Carrie Hembree, Outreach Specialist, WI K-12 Energy Education Program (KEEP), Stevens Point, WI: |
| "The Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program (KEEP) partners with student-built homes across the state to provide professional development for teachers and access to resources and information, so that student-built homes can become more energy efficient. The VISION program is one of the strongest educatinal partnerships we have seen in Wisconsin, incorporating leadership from the community, local government and the school system to provide a tremendous experience for high school students. Now in its thirteenth year, VISION is a successful model for student-built home projects that communities all over Wisconsin strive to follow." |
| A Hartford homeowner who bought her Vision Home as it was being completed had the following observations: |
"I think my house is built better than a regular house. The students are being watched carefully by the teacher, and (are) getting it inspected all the time. I love this program at the High School. I’ve still never seen any other District do this; what a great hands-on learning experience! I love the location of my home with my backyard looking into a nice wooded area." |
| A second homeowner’s testimonial: |
| "We bought the 2000 Vision Home on Root Avenue in May 2005. The price was $10,000-15,000 lower than other homes of equal size and location. We love the home and have not had any problems at all! I would highly recommend one of these homes to anyone. The house is a glowing reflection of our community officials, students and teachers." |
| A former Vision Student writes: |
"The Vision Program not only teaches students about the construction industry, it teaches them about strong values and responsibility. The Program helped me build a strong sense of pride in my work. Vision provided me with a great insight of what takes place in the residential construction industry on a day-to-day basis. From this I was able to find what my likes and dislikes were, and actually choose a career in construction. I am now a commercial plumbing apprentice. Although I work on very large commercial jobs, I still relate back to my Vision experience often. " |
| Vision owners on Northview Trail endorse the Vision Program in the following words: |
"We purchased our Vision Home in the spring of 2005. We have been very satisfied with the quality and workmanship of our Vision Home. Rotary has been extremely helpful. We have found a few minor problems as any new homeowner would encounter, but Mr. Majkowski from Hartford Rotary has always responded in a timely manner and has taken care of the problems. We think the home is outstanding, giving the kids a chance to work and experience first-hand how to build a house…. We purchased our home because it had the most upgrades for the money. We also liked the fact that the community was so involved with the kids." |
| Another Vision Student from the early ‘90s sent us this endorsement: |
"It is good to hear that Vision is still alive! I learned more in the Vision Class than I did in any other class I took. I really had a lot of fun working on the house, too. The one we built, the second year for the class, is only one block away from the school. I own my own home now and still use the knowledge from Vision to help me maintain and remodel my house today." |
