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(WSIL) -- One Franklin County vocational program is back and running after a brief hiatus. 

Construction Trades is supported by the Education for Employment through the Regional Office of Education and they have a new instructor.

Tuesday, area politicians and high school officials stopped by to learn more about the program. 

"Really, it's just about being able to learn. I really enjoy this class. It's hands on, and you don't really see too many classes like this anymore, and I'm really enjoying it. Mr. Fitch, he's teaching us everything here. He's teaching us how to cut wood, how to measure, he's teaching us how to frame. It will be really useful in the future." said Benton Resident, Mathias Romani. 

"I was like, I don't really know if I should do it. I knew absolutely nothing. We've been doing this about a month and a half. Mark is an amazing teacher - I would recommend this class to everyone." said Cannon McKee of Sesser. 

Instructor, Mark Fitch says, that's the hope. He's teaching students from 4 high schools the trades both for everyday and potentially the future.

"It's the hands on. And the fact that - a lot of them didn't know which end of the hammer to pick up from. When we started - it was a little rough. But here we are a month and a half into it, we're building walls and making things happen." said Fitch. 

The program is an elective for students and they earn credit hours at their respective school.

But they are on a shoestring budget that is funded by one state and one federal grant. They are using tools for the class that were purchased Pre-Covid, and in a building donated by Greg Weeks.

Fitch says, they're getting the fundamentals and learning that skills like these are quite valuable.

"When they leave here I hope that they know that they have the ability to go out and make a living College isn't for everybody." said Fitch.