Tiny home built by Aptos High School students to be showcased at Santa Cruz County Fair

APTOS, Calif. (KION-TV) - A tiny home Aptos High School students created will be showcased at the Santa Cruz County Fair.

According to the school, the 18-month project involved roughly 200 students, including Ian Hsu and Aiden Gonzalez.

“I came in with, like, little to no, like, construction experience. So I was learning throughout the entire time on like, just cutting boards and putting them up on the outside," Hsu said.

The tiny home, set to be showcased at the fair, features 160 square feet of flexible living space. Students like Ian and Aiden spent countless hours outside of school and on weekends working on it.

Career technical education teacher Dusten Dennis said this project not only helps students, but also highlights an important community issue.

“We're all aware of our housing challenges, and the way I see it is each little part, each little step, can be a tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny part of the solution, every ADU, every tiny house village for those less fortunate," said Dennis.

The school district is also pointing to Santa Cruz County’s use of tiny home’s to help those who have lost their homes in the CZU lightning Complex Fire.

As for the future of *this tiny home after the fair, Dennis said, "we are going to be able to sell the tiny house to a nonprofit or someone who can use it, and those funds will be able to be rolled over and invested into the next project."

“It took a lot of students to make and it was a really big project that helped a lot of people learn and help the community out a lot," said sophomore Aiden Gonzalez.