Oak Forest HS senior’s passion for carpentry recognized

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

It may have only been a “glorified doghouse,” as Oak Forest senior Tyler Roeske put it, but that “doghouse” won the 17-year-old carpenter first-place glory at the state USASkills carpentry competition in Springfield.

It didn’t come as much of a shock to his adviser, Dan Brown, or really to Roeske himself. The 12th-grader has had an almost preternatural affinity for all things construction, starting with a simple toolbox he begged his parents for in the second grade after first laying eyes on it at a friend’s birthday party. By the third grade he had his first cordless drill, by seventh grade he was building professional-grade cabinets, and in the eighth grade Roeske started getting his first paid commissions, which never stopped coming.

These days the Oak Forest teen is booked solid with construction projects all over the area.

“He’s got a ton of talent, he knows what he’s doing, and he’s a very polite kid,” Brown said.

He’s also put his skills to good work for charity. After helping with a school project to build a wheelchair ramp for a teacher’s friend, Roeske has been asked to do several more, which he does for only the cost of materials. In fact, outside of school it seems Roeske is always working on one building project or another.

That’s how Roeske found himself in Springfield last Friday, racing against the clock and about 30 other students to build a frame for a miniature house in eight hours. The exercise was designed to measure the students’ abilities to follow the blueprints as well as their attention to detail, something Roeske has in spades.

“I’m like that,” he said. “Everything’s got to be perfect for me.”

He now will go on to compete at the national level in Kansas City, Mo., in June, as long as he can raise the $2,500 or so he’ll need for travel and expenses. He hopes the effort will pay off in the form of scholarships, as he is looking into the construction program at South Suburban College and other colleges. Roeske said he knows he wants to be a carpenter and eventually a general contractor. It seems nothing will stop him as he embodies a “This Old House” level passion for it.

“A lot of times, when I walk into people’s houses, my eyes are going everywhere,” he said. “If they’ve just had something done, I’ll look to see how well it was done.”

The SkillsUSA national competition will be in Kansas City from June 19 to 24.