Students in Port Angeles High School class building tiny home for Touchstone Campus

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, March 11, 2026

PORT ANGELES — Students in instructor Paul Arndt’s career and technical education construction class at Port Angeles High School are learning how to read a tape measure, square a wall frame and work as a team as they help construct a tiny home that will become part of 4PA’s Touchstone Campus.

The course is part of the state’s Core Plus CTE program, which combines classroom instruction with hands-on training to prepare students for skilled trades in the construction, aerospace and maritime industries.

Arndt approached 4PA founder and director Joe DeScala, a fellow Port Angeles High School graduate, late last year about partnering on a project where students could gain experience while they contribute to the community.

They agreed that constructing the subfloor and framing for one of the 9-foot by 12-foot tiny homes would be a good fit for the class. The nonprofit’s high-barrier transitional housing site is located at 230 E. First St., Port Angeles.

Before they began work on the tiny home, each of the 25 students in the class was tasked with constructing a scale model of the finished design. Then they collaborated on a demo frame. Only after completing those steps did they begin constructing the subfloor that will be installed in the unit.

Once the subfloor and framing are complete, the sections will be dismantled and transported to the Touchstone Campus, where the project’s contractor, Lux Built, will assemble and finish the unit sometime before the end of the school year.

“We’re hoping to time it so that Lux Built and the students are there at the same time,” DeScala said, so that students get the full benefit of seeing their part of the project through to the end.

Lux Built already has completed three tiny homes — two of which are occupied — while a third is awaiting the installation of a wheelchair ramp.

Three more units are underway, and the students’ structure will be the seventh of the 11 transitional housing units planned for the site.

Arndt’s class also has had opportunities to see large-scale construction firsthand. The students have twice visited the Hurricane Ridge Middle School construction site, where students met with FORMA Construction crew members who walked them through the project and answered their questions.

“When students leave, they’re prepared for the workforce — these are skills they will need,” said Jennifer Rogers, the high school’s CTE director.

There is strong interest in construction classes, which include cabinetmaking and a fine woodworking course, one Rogers said is the most popular CTE elective on campus.

The Core Plus construction class ideally would run over three class periods rather than a single 47-minute block, but Arndt said his schedule doesn’t allow it. He said he may offer the course next year as a hybrid class, combining new and returning students.

Junior Madden Reeves, who is in the class, said constructing the demo frame and working on the subfloor have been “a cool opportunity,” and so far not too difficult.

“Kind of like a Lego set,” he said. “Only bigger.”

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Reporter Paula Hunt can be reached by email at paula.hunt@peninsuladailynews.com.