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Charlotte Branch Manager Miley Akers’ son
was in the paper recently:

Student Designs House for
Habitat for Humanity (2008)

by Josh McCann of the Independent Tribune in Concord, North Carolina

CONCORD - In his high school engineering class, Miley Akers grew bored with the material and tired of all the math.

When he took architecture the next semester, Akers found the creative process of designing houses to be much more satisfying.

Now a 17-year-old senior at Northwest Cabarrus High School and an aspiring architect, Akers spent his graduation project designing a house for Habitat for Humanity of Cabarrus County. “I loved doing it,” Akers said. “It helped me realize that I really love designing houses.”

He has applied to UNC Charlotte, where he hopes to study his new favorite subject before embarking on a career in the field. As he aims for admission to Charlotte’s program, Akers has already gained ample experience. He successfully designed one house in class before deciding to use his required graduation project to help Habitat.

It was challenging to fit three bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen and a dining area into 1,150 square feet, but Akers’ design came in with five square feet to spare and also includes a covered porch and nontraditional roofline. Habitat officials have approved his plans, and construction is tentatively scheduled to start in late February and finish in April or May. Akers plans to take pictures throughout the process to document his experience and supplement his application portfolio.

The house will be built primarily by groups of college and high school students in Habitat’s mixed-income Magnolia Crossing subdivision near McGill Avenue in Concord. Akers estimates he put in about 30 hours on the project, which called for at least 15 hours of work with a mentor.

Spending much of that time in the school drafting room, Akers tinkered with computer-aided design software, printed out big plans with a special printer and built a wooden model of the house’s frame.

Akers, who is also involved with Habitat’s youth programs, said the project presented an “amazing” opportunity. His mentor, drafting teacher Stephen Thacker, used the same word to describe Akers’ transformation in the classroom. Akers’ lack of interest showed somewhat in engineering class, but he eagerly participated in architecture, Thacker said. Akers would often use downtime to do extra work with the computer design system and then solicit feedback from his teacher, Thacker said. The spark of passion, which earned Akers an A in the class, surprised both teacher and student.

“He always seemed to want more,” said Thacker. “He always wanted to exceed what he’d already done.”

Thacker, who will guide Akers through advanced studies next semester, said his pupil possesses the motivation and creativity to excel in the profession should he continue to pursue it.

Akers said he’s likely to take that path.

“I think it’s going to be a major part of my life,” Akers said. “I know this is what I want to do.”