HARTFORD - Jay and Livermore Falls high school students wearing hard hats and safety glasses worked in groups Thursday at a house under construction off routes 140 and 219. They were installing the home's sanitary system and water lines under the watchful eye of their instructor.

The 10 trainees are in the first year of a plumbing course taught by Peter Strout, a master plumber with Ranor Inc., at the Livermore Falls school.

Ranor is sponsoring the plumbing instructor this year and is in partnership with Associated Builders and Contractors of Maine, school systems and Community Concepts Inc. for the project.

Tradesmen are trying to attract young people into the crafts construction, as the current work force ages.

One of the organizers of the initiative, Tim Madden, a human resource manager with Ranor, said the trainees have learned theory and technical instruction that covers blueprint reading, safety, hand and power tools, construction math, and rigging, among other topics.

Now they're training in the field.

"They're roughing in a sanitary system as it is shown in the wall," Madden said.

The students worked throughout the 1½-story, six- or eight-room Cape Cod-style house with a daylight basement, one of Community Concepts' building projects.

"The kids are doing very well," Madden said. All have an 80 grade or higher in the class. "We're treating these kids like employees, not students ... We like to keep that construction environment."

Ethan Lake, 17, of Livermore Falls was using a calculator on his cell phone to find the needed measurements for a venting system he and James Richard, 17, of Livermore were installing.

"It's fun. I like it," Richard said of the course. "I'm learning a lot."

Lake echoed his sentiment and has taken it a step further. He has already been accepted at Southern Maine Community College where he plans to continue his plumbing trade studies.

"This is great hands-on experience," Strout said after he checked the teens' measurement figures.

Downstairs, Nick Raymond and Shawn Rainha, both 17 and juniors at Jay High School, worked on a large piece of PVC pipe for the sanitary system.

"It's something I'm trying out," Rainha said of the course.

That's what the program is all about, Madden said, giving students the opportunity to explore their options.

"I want to know how to plumb my own home," Raymond added.

In another section of the basement, students were using a hammer and chisel to expand the diameter of a hole for a pipe in tight spacing and using a large drill to make holes to run piping through.

"I think it's cool," Ricky Christian, 18, a senior at the Livermore Falls school, said as he put the Hole Hawg drill down.

They are getting a sampling of everything a plumber does in a house, Madden said, and will be able to use it throughout their lifetime.