Not everybody can claim to have made a small house from scratch…but Tate Kahalas can! Kahalas’ passion for building grew when he started making a house in 6th grade, and despite having other aspects of life to attend to, Kahalas is self-motivated to continue what he loves. 

“I get things done even when I have nobody forcing me to do them. I like to do things by my own accord,” said Kahalas. 

The stress of having to take care of every feature as the general contractor doesn’t affect Kahalas, as he enjoys seeing the tangible product of his imagination. 

“I’m the general contractor with all these projects, so I do all the steps…It’s a big process for building anything, even smaller projects there’s so many steps that are involved like it really it’s a lot of planning, a lot of budgeting, [and] lists,” said Kahalas. 

Excited to join the Duke Engineers for International Development, Kahalas is majoring in Civil Engineering at Duke University to participate in hands-on projects around the world! 

Despite leaving Dulaney, Kahalas is proud to have been part of the school community. 

“I think the people at Dulaney really make it special like it’s a great place to me…I think we all feel a good sense of pride,” said Kahalas.