It began with wooden spatulas and has progressed to a playhouse, but Motueka teen Biddy Thomas hopes that’s just the start of a pathway toward building full-sized homes in the next few years.
The Motueka High School student rearranged her timetable this year to attend the year-long Top of the South Trades Academy carpentry course, held every Friday at Nelson Tasman Institute of Technology (NMIT).
One of about 20 students to complete the course, Biddy was thrilled to receive the Top Student award earlier this month.
The 17-year-old reckons she “really enjoys” the coursework, with the tutors’ approachability really boosting her confidence.
“They’re literally amazing,” she says. “They’ll tell you anything you need to know.”
Her passion for carpentry was sparked by MHS’s woodwork classes, which began with a Year 9 wooden spatula project. “I made three,” laughs Biddy. She reckons that between her and her brother, “our whole house is just wooden spatulas”.
She says the high school classes focus a lot on joinery – “tables and small intricate projects” – with some larger projects like deck-building introduced later to extend older students’ skills.
Biddy has enjoyed the extra challenge NMIT has provided, as well as the chance to use bigger power tools. Her group worked their way up to the construction of a playhouse, which is now happily installed at Tāhunanui Kindergarten.
Next year Biddy intends to dive into NMIT’s pre-trade construction programme, with her eye on an apprenticeship at the end of her study to “hopefully become a qualified builder”.
She’ll be getting a job this summer but will still have opportunities to sling her hammer – her parents have asked her to use it to build them a deck.
