Gulfport High School students build homeless shelter

Gulfport High students unveiled a new resource in helping to combat homelessness in South Mississippi.

Students and faculty in the school’s STEM department worked to create a custom-built transition shelter for use by the local homeless population.

The ‘tiny home’ is equipped with lighting and USB ports that allow the person to charge their phone, hook up a fan, or whatever else they wish.

Thomas Brooks is the career and technical education director at Gulfport High School and he says he’s beyond proud of his students and all their hard work. “This project is like a lot of projects that we have here at Gulfport and our students use the skills that they use in classrooms or that they learn in the classroom and apply it to impact our community, whether that community is right here in Gulfport, across the Gulf Coast in the state of Mississippi or really worldwide. We’re proud of our students and all the hard work they put into this project.”

Senior April Strange said, “We get to see it go out into society and see how it works. We get to see what it gets to do and how it works for everybody. It means that I’m considerate around everybody around me and I don’t have to just be isolated to what I’m around all the time. I can see past everybody and see what needs to be done in the community.”

Senior Kimberly Castaneda said, “It’s doesn’t matter how or the differences between us, we’ll always work together just to get out to the community.”

This shelter will be handed over to Back Bay Mission as they work with community stakeholders to provide more shelter opportunities across the Coast.