Sidney High house project has a new owner

Sidney High School students put months of labor and collaboration into remodeling and improving a house located at 1833 Maple St., and Rebecca Spiller has officially made it her home.

Beau McConnell, Sidney High's construction teacher as well as Kim Castner, the school's design teacher, helped students gain a hands on opportunity dealing with team work, planning, budgeting and construction.

Spiller, who is new to Sidney from Strasburg, Colo., said this was the perfect house for her.

"I switched jobs, so now I work from home. I don't have kids and am not married, so I thought this was the perfect time to try something different," Spiller said. "I was looking for houses in northeastern Colorado and there wasn't a lot coming up on the market, so I started looking in Sidney."

During her house hunt, Spiller said she saw the sign for the house, parked in front of it and called to set up an appointment to tour inside.

"As I was calling, Kim and Ralph Castner pulled up behind me and asked if I was the appointment to look at the house, and I said "no, but I will," Spiller said while laughing.

Spiller said that she was able to see all of the progress that the classes made on the house through the class websites.

"I like old architecture, but when I was looking at a lot of other houses I was thinking if I buy this I'm going to have work on the kitchen or replace the furnace and do this and do that," Spiller said. "This house has the old look and feel, but I won't have to do anything like that for a long time."

With generous help from the community, the classes were able to work together to make design and decoration decisions for the home. From installing windows, applying drywall and framing and wiring lights to creating storyboards for each room with design elements, the students were involved in all aspects of the remodel.

"I think it's amazing what they've done, I would have loved to have been able to do that if I was that age," she said. "Especially as a girl, you're not always shown that kind of stuff unless your parents are handy. It's not saying you have to move toward a job doing that, but knowing how to be capable to do some of those things are great skills to have. Being able for them to visualize and see spatially how everything in a house should be laid out is amazing."

Proceeds from the sale of the home supported scholarships for graduating seniors from the class of 2015 and the purchase of a new property to makeover.

"The life skills that this teaches kids in the community is awesome. Another huge part is the scholarships," she said. "My job includes supporting software for colleges and universities, and one part is scholarship software. I work with foundations and financial aid offices to help them combine applications. It's just kind of neat to have that tie in to the house because it's important especially coming from a small town to have scholarships available. "

Although Spiller has only lived in Sidney since July 2, she said everyone has been very helpful and accommodating.

"Everybody has been so nice and informative," she added. "Honestly, everyone I've talked to so far couldn't be more helpful."