Rich Township students will rebuild a donated house from the studs out

Rich Township students are preparing to rebuild a vacant house in Richton Park that sat empty after a fire, ABC7 Chicago reported on October 21, 2026. The South Suburban Land Bank and Development Authority donated it to the district. Students will strip the interior and rebuild it from floor to ceiling, with carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, and more. When the house is finished, business and real estate students are to put it on the market. The aim is a sale by April 2027.

Student Dwayne Phillips said he likes restoring a house so someone might live in it later. Board president Andrea Bonds called it the kind of dirt-under-the-nails work that happens outside a classroom. Teacher Mark Adamczyk said shop classes are coming back and that students need those basic skills. Superintendent Johnny Thomas said the pieces of the program came together into one project. Students were set to meet village officials the next day to start permits, and they hoped to begin work the following week. The house is not rebuilt yet. The story is the gift of the building and the plan.