Hurricane Helene left Asheville and surrounding areas ravaged, but it also provided A-B Tech construction students an opportunity to test new skills in the community. Construction student Joe Cipollina, 35, seized the opportunity to put his skills to use building structures for locals who had lost their homes to Helene. Cipollina also was the Construction Management Department's Achievement Award winner and the college’s Robert W. Scott Student Leadership Award state nominee this year.
When A-B Tech closed, Construction Department Chair Heath Moody’s class had been in session for six weeks and learned the basics of roofing, flooring and drywall. As the college waited for potable water to return, the class went online, and Moody offered students credit for doing local cleanup and rebuilding.
Cipollina, a Marshall resident who is originally from Queens, NY, began the Construction and Millwork Certificate program in 2024. After working for two years in accounting, Cipollina had decided an office job was not for him and transitioned into property management in Florida. The son of a carpenter, Cipollina loved the idea of learning to work with his hands and dreamed of one day creating a sustainable farm community, which would provide off-grid affordable housing, while allowing residents to co-care for land and animals. Last year, Cipolina moved to Marshall to take a work/trade caretaking position managing a 110-acre plot of land, which has proved the perfect training ground for his dreams. To boost his construction skills, he has been taking a variety of carpentry and electrical classes at A-B Tech.
When Helene hit, Marshall was hit hard and many people who lived along the river lost their homes. Cipollina learned that James Heinl, a local real estate investor and owner of Three Tall Pines, LLC, was building tiny homes to donate to people in need. He jumped in to help complete one of the structures from top to bottom.
“I’m doing framing, putting up walls and windows, sheet rock, interiors,” Cipollina said in December. “I’ve been learning a ton.”
Cipollina’s construction class at A-B Tech also donated three 8 by 8 structures to Community Housing Coalition of Madison County (CHC), to provide shelter for families along Marshall’s Rollin’s Street area, where many homes were washed away.
“There are a lot of families living out of trailers,” Cipollina said. “It’s not enough space for them. The pod we built is like an extra bedroom.”
According to one CHC volunteer, one of the structures built by Moody’s class went to an elderly woman and her daughter who lost their home to Helene. It served as an extension to a mobile home they lived in while their home was being repaired.
Moody said he’d like to see more class projects that address social issues such as homelessness. “Students really take ownership and pride when they know they’re going to help the communities in which they live,” he said.
With so much of Western Carolina damaged, he said that students like Cipollina are in a unique position to help reshape the face of the area. The demand for workers has increased steadily over the years, now more than ever.
“More people are retiring out of the field,” Moody said. “There are not many young contractors in the state. There was a shortage of labor before, and now we have tons more construction to do. It’s inevitable there will be more jobs.”
To meet the community need, Moody said, A-B Tech has been developing new short-term certificates for those who would like to gain skills more quickly and put them to use. New programs include a residential design certificate and a sustainable agriculture and construction certificate.
Cipollina is presently adding onto his construction experience by taking an electrical systems wiring and a solar photovoltaic energy certificate.
“Shelter is a basic human need,” Moody said. “The world can fall apart around you and if you have that skill, you can help build shelter anywhere in the world and find yourself helpful in that community.”
Learn more about A-B Tech’s construction programs here.
Photo above is of Cipollina with the tiny house that he constructed.