MILFORD -- Liam Hurley will be on a plane next month, off to Kansas City, Mo., where the Milford High senior is set to compete in a building trade national competition. The Skills USA Competition is scheduled for June 23-28, and Hurley was invited after winning a similar state competition this spring.

"I'm really looking forward to competing in Kansas City," said the 18-year-old, who has been in the building trades program at MHS for two years. Last year Hurley, whose father is a contractor, finished second in the state competition and vowed to win it this spring, which he did.

At the nationals, he'll compete in three areas -- building a mock-up structure, two written exams, and an identification test, where competitors are asked to identify nails, boards and other building materials.

In the meantime, he is busy building a storage facility at the Milford High School track, along with two dozen other students. The building trades class at Milford is somewhat unique, said instructor Brian Carter, who has been

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teaching the course for the past 16 years.

Carter teaches approximately 14 students in three sections, including out-of-district students. "This is an advanced course in building and one of just a few, so we get students from other schools who want to get into the trade," Carter said, explaining that the state set up 20 such programs in high schools across the state decades ago. Milford was the last one to be established, and was designated a sending school, which means students from other schools are often bused in to take the course.

Brett Pigott, 18, a senior at Hollis-Brookline High School, jumps on a bus every day and travels with other kids to take the hourlong class. He has spent three years in the program. "It's very comprehensive, and we get to use our skills by building a structure at the school," said Pigott, whose father is also a contractor. He said his goal is to become a contractor, but before that Pigott plans to attend New Hampshire Community Technical College in Manchester to learn the finer points of the building trade.

Hurley is also planning to attend technical school, where he'll major in project management and business. "It's a great school, and I got a partial scholarship to go. My goal is the work as a project manager after college. But right now we've got to get this building up," said Hurley, grabbing a hammer and heading back to the storage building frame by the half-completed track.

"It's an usual program here, but the kids get a lot of hands-on building experience out of it," Carter said. "There is a lot of classroom time, but the exciting part is this lets the students use their knowledge to actually build something useful. I get them out here every afternoon, point them in the right direction and just let them go." The 30-foot-by-40-foot building will be used to store the football and track teams' equipment.

In the past the Milford students have built a pavilion at Keyes Park and prefabricated dugouts for the local Babe Ruth baseball team.

"The school, the community and the vendors we deal with have been very supportive of the program since its inception," Carter added.