Fandom High School

Bruce had sent an email out to his students to meet him at the causeway today. Once everyone had gathered, he took them through a portal and out to a construction site.

"I hope you all dressed safely today," Bruce said with real concern in his voice. He had stressed the point in his email, too, so nobody had an excuse to be wearing flip flops or loose clothes that might get caught in machinery. He was personally wearing jeans, boots, and a Wayne Foundation T-shirt along with his hard hat and safety glasses. "Because today we're building homes for families in need."

"The reason we're doing this work is because the process of building a home is expensive. In order to build a home for a family that can't afford one, we have to do it as in expensively as possible. That's why they're fairly simple designs with simple materials. We have some professionals running the projects to make sure the work is done right, but any volunteer labor we can get at any stage is a huge help."

"What we have here is a regular wood frame house." That probably wasn't a shock since the house they were standing in front of didn't have any sheathing, exposing the wood frame to the world. "This house needs some more work done with the frame, building headers and sills for upcoming window installation. The house next door is just getting the foundation poured, so if you really want to get your hands dirty, you can help the workers mix cement. Or if you're not really into construction, the house on the other side needs to be painted."

"Obviously, the process of building a home takes longer than a class period, so if you want to stay to help out all day, I'll be here, too. Otherwise, you're free to go back to the portal at the end of the period or whenever you need to leave. But between now and you leaving, I'd like it if you kept a buddy and stayed close to them. I don't want anyone getting hurt because they wandered off on their own," Bruce explained. "But any additional time you can give will help because before we start, we have to go through a construction safety seminar."

If he weren't a bit nervous today, Bruce might have just slapped some hard hats on the students and told them to get to work. But he just had a bad feeling today, which meant a professional had to explain the importance of a hard hat and safety glasses, how to swing a hammer, what not to do with wet concrete, and the dangers of paint fumes. Fun!