A cherished tradition took flight again this spring as Nooksack Valley High School students partnered with kindergarteners from across the district to build wooden birdhouses—an event that continues to grow in impact and community spirit each year.

Originally launched 11 years ago by Chuck Handy, owner of Handy Homes, the birdhouse project began as a creative way to support Nooksack Elementary’s curriculum on wood and tie learning into Mother’s Day. “The kindergarten classes were studying wood, and we came up with this idea to build birdhouses as a part of that section of learning,” Handy says. “Then we tied it to Mother’s Day so they could take them home to mom. We also liked the idea of building the birdhouses with the kids. I thought it would be a way to give back and grow my crew as leaders.”

This year, Handy expanded the tradition by involving the Career & Technical Education (CTE) program at Nooksack Valley High School. “Chuck came to speak to my class about Be The One,” says Kevin Rus, CTE teacher. “While he was there, he mentioned the birdhouse project and asked if we would like to participate. We had 19 high school mentors volunteer for the build days and more than 20 students work on cutting out the parts for the kits.”  

In total, the students cut more than 1,000 pieces to prepare the 145 birdhouse kits. All kindergarten students at Sumas, Nooksack and Everson elementaries were able to build a bird house over the two build sessions. All materials—including wood, nails, glue and hammers—were donated by Westside Building Supply, a longtime partner in the project. “They have donated everything over the years—without question they pitch in,” Handy says. “Westside has been an amazing partner.”

Once the kits were ready, the high school mentors visited kindergarten classrooms to help students build their birdhouses by hand. The experience was transformative on both sides of the mentoring relationship.

“It was great helping the kids build their first birdhouse,” says Brian Marcelino-Ramirez, senior at Nooksack Valley High School. “Many of them said they had never built anything before.”

“You could also see the joy spreading throughout the high school students as they worked with the kindergarteners,” says Leeann Handy, Nooksack Elementary kindergarten teacher and Chuck’s wife. “The high school students were glowing from the experience, along with the kindergarten students.” During breaks the high school students shared in recess with the kindergarteners. “It was so fun to see the high school students interacting with students on the playground at recess,” Leeann says. “High schoolers were playing tag and running with the kindergarten students. There was so much joy and laughter.”

Zoe Furtado, Nooksack Valley High School junior, agrees. “The building was great. But it was also fun getting to play with the kindergarteners after we were done building,” she says. Alex Flores-Avila, Nooksack Valley senior, says “the joy on the kids’ faces after they were done building was the best part. They were so excited.”

The birdhouse project is yet another example of the mentorship culture that has taken root in the Nooksack Valley School District. The district has fully embraced programs like Be The One—a nationally accredited initiative based on the simple idea of one student, one adult, one hour a week—which began in Nooksack in 2019. The high school also pairs senior students with freshmen to create a supportive, peer-led environment.

“This is another event to give students an opportunity to mentor,” LeeAnn says. “We really feel like this is another way to foster the mentorship culture at Nooksack School District.”

In celebration of the event, Be The One provided shirts for the high school mentors to wear during the build days, reinforcing the sense of unity and purpose behind an initiative designed to create more than homes for birds, but an event that built bridges between generations.