From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

Montecito High School construction students won Best of Show in a design-build competition, and in the process, built storage sheds that will be donated to two Ramona organizations.

Ten Montecito students competed against more than 250 students from 17 Southern California high schools in the Construction Industry Education Foundation Design Build contest held April 6 and 7 at the Orange County Fairgrounds. The Best of Show Award was given as a first-place prize.

Competitors spent eight hours in each of two days building an 8-foot-by-8-foot shed with one window and a door, but the Montecito students finished early, said their construction teacher Nicholas Jordan.

“We finished ours in 12 hours,” Jordan said. “We were in the top three to finish first.”

Judging was conducted by the Southwest Regional Council of Carpenters, which represents more than 55,000 carpenters in the Southwest region. The materials for the Montecito sheds were provided by Swinerton Builders.

Jordan estimates each shed is valued at between $4,000 and $5,000.

The prototype shed built at the Montecito High campus as practice for the competition will be donated to Ramona Senior Center in honor of the late Kim Lasley. Lasley was a longtime Ramona Unified School District school board member who was active in numerous community activities, including the Ramona Rotary Club, the Ramona Grape Stomp fundraiser, and PTAs at Barnett Elementary and Ramona High schools.

Lasley died of cancer on Jan. 23 at the age of 64.

“The senior center was near and dear to Kim Lasley’s heart,” Jordan said. “She did a lot for the community and the senior center.”

Lora Cicalo, executive director at the Senior Center, said Lasley was a huge contributor to the senior center’s annual Rib Fest fundraiser, which was the senior center’s biggest fundraiser prior to COVID. Lasley helped organize volunteers, purchased tablecloths and participated in the event, she said.

“Kim has been a board member, she’s been our board president, she’s been on our fundraiser committees and her and her daughters have always come through for the holidays,” Cicalo said. “They’re always making goodie bags to give out to the seniors and homebound seniors.”

Lasley’s daughters, Krysta Ramos and Jayme Lasley, continued the tradition by putting together Easter eggs with candy for the senior center’s lunch celebration and preparing Easter Rice Krispy treats, fruit kabobs and sparkling cider for the center’s Bingo activity.

The senior center will use the shed the Montecito students built as an outdoor storage space for non-food supplies, Cicalo said. It will replace an old shed that fell apart and was removed several years ago, she said.

“I can’t thank the Montecito construction class enough for that,” Cicalo said. “It’s going to be a big help for us.”

The other storage shed that was built during the competition will be donated to the Ramona Chamber of Commerce.

“The Chamber and the Kiwanis and Rotary clubs have been so good to our program over the years and so we wanted to give back to them,” Jordan said.

The shed the students built in last year’s design-build competition was also donated to the Ramona Chamber. That shed, used in an opportunity drawing, raised $9,500 for Ramona’s July 4th Family Picnic & Fireworks Show, said Ramona Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Joe Stupar.

Stupar said the new shed will be featured in an opportunity drawing to raise money for this year’s Fourth of July celebration, which is expected to cost roughly $35,000. The Chamber plans to announce the drawing, with tickets that cost $10 apiece, just before the fireworks show, he said.

Stupar went to the Montecito campus April 13 to thank the construction students and their teacher in person. He told the group that they will become the next generation of leaders who could someday become a CEO or run a subcontracting firm.

“Work hard and you will have success,” Stupar told them. “You have a whole community behind you — utilize that. But when you get to where you need to go you have to pay it back.”

Thirteen of the Montecito construction students are expected to compete in the 55th annual SkillsUSA California Leadership and Skill Conference at the Ontario Convention Center April 21-24.

SkillsUSA is a national career and technical student organization that promotes training programs in the trades, technical and skilled service occupations. The organization holds regional, state and national competitions to showcase top-performing career and technical education students in the United States.

Montecito will send two Teamworks teams of four members each, two high school students and a college student who will compete in electrical construction wiring, one student who will compete in masonry, and one who will compete as an individual carpenter.

The Teamworks and carpentry teams won Gold Medals at last year’s state SkillsUSA competition and one college Teamworks team trained at Montecito went on to win third place in the country, Jordan said.

“We’re excited to go back and defend our state title,” he said.