After finishing the exterior trim on its house, the vocational building trades class plans to start the mechanicals, which includes setting electrical boxes in the wall, running wires throughout the house and adding audio and video pre-wiring. The process takes a couple of weeks and is one of the students’ favorite assignments, according to John Coghlan, vocational building trades instructor.

“(The electrical aspect) seems harder than it really is,” Coghlan said. “(Students) really feel like, ‘Wow, I accomplished a lot,’ which they have. But it’s something that not a lot of people know about, and they’re getting into something that not a lot of people really understand.”

Coghlan said students receive introductory information about electricity, but the practical application with wires supplements learning. No electricity runs through the wires during mechanicals.

“(Electricity) is something I have more experience in,” Cory Noe, vocational building trades student and senior, said. “It’s more black and white. There’s not a lot of gray area.”

While students work on the electricity, contractors work alongside them on heating, cooling and plumbing. According to Noe, students and contractors stay out of each others’ way, but students sometimes sit and watch the professionals. Once everybody finishes, the city of Westfield gives the house a rough-in inspection, which checks the house’s framing, windows and mechanicals. By Rochelle Brual