High School Grad’s Parents Buy House She Spent 3 Years Making in Class — Now It's Her Home!

This Colorado teenager helped construct a home with her own hands for a class project, and now she gets to live in it!

Victoria Turner, 18, was one of over 100 high school students involved in building a 1,200-square-foot house as part of Liberty High School’s (LHS) building and construction class.

“It feels really good that I was a part of this,” Victoria tells PEOPLE. The decision to sign up for the program was personal, too.

"Since I was seven or eight, I wanted to go into construction because I wanted to be like my brother,” she says. “Four years ago, when I realized I could be a part of a class where we build a house, I thought it'd be a good idea. So I applied.”

For about three years, Victoria and her fellow students from several other Academy School District 20 high schools performed a variety of tasks in order to complete the build.

“For the most part, I pretty much did a lot of the carpentry, which is floorboard and stuff like that," says Victoria, who also did a majority of the plumbing work, put up some drywall and worked on the exterior of the house.

"We would be building the house three hours a day, but we did it every other day, so six to nine hours a week," she adds of the time commitment.

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When the project was almost done, Victoria's parents decided to buy the home, much to her surprise.

“Last year I overheard our student liaison and Mr. Hernandez talking about some guy who wanted to buy it," Victoria tells PEOPLE. "Then I made a joke about how if my mom bought it, it would be the biggest take-home project ever."

But Victoria says her mom replied, '"Actually, I'm interested in that.’"

"So I brought it up to Mr. Hernandez and he told me that he would rather our family have it," she says.

The home was finally completed this month and it set to get transported to Victoria's parent's property in January. During a recent ceremony at Liberty High School, Victoria was even presented with the keys to the new house where both she and her sister will live.

"Nowadays, it's pretty expensive, so we won't have to rent an apartment or any of that," she says. "It's really nice to have our own little place."

The project that Victoria and the other students worked on won't be a one-off either: another home-building project is planned to start next year. “I think it's wonderful that District 20 allows this opportunity for people that don't want to go on to college, to have an opportunity to maybe get some trade to actually make a living,” says Mr. Turner, Victoria’s father.

Victoria, who graduated in May, now has a job at a local roofing company.

“One of my co-workers who has been working in roofing for 30 years told me I'm only the second female he's seen do this," she says. “That's pretty cool."

"Being a female in construction is a great pathway," she adds. "Changing the workforce would be great for changing the world for the future.”