The first thing Isiah Burgin plans on doing when he and his mother Karen move into their new Wellborn Manor home is hopping on his bike and exploring his surroundings.
He’ll ride up and down the hills in the neighborhood, looking at the 34 other newly constructed homes and meeting the other children.
Isiah, 11, and Karen live in a rented house in Hobson City. Although there are a lot of kids in their neighborhood, there are none next door or across the street or even a few doors down.
Their new neighborhood will be crawling with kids. Isiah already knows of a girl his age he went to school with at C.E. Hanna Elementary School who is moving into Wellborn Manor.
Although Isiah is too young to work on the site, his age isn’t preventing him from contributing.
Homeowners must accumulate enough sweat equity points before they earn their house. One way is if their children make good grades in school.
“Since it can help us get a new house, I guess I’ve tried a little harder to get good grades,” said Isiah, who earned all As and Bs this past school year.
When Isiah starts school in August, he’ll be entering the sixth grade at Alexandria High School, instead of going to Oxford Middle School.
He’s a bit concerned about going to a school with older, high school students.
“There’s no telling what could happen,” he jokes.
He’s looking forward to the possibility of playing the saxophone in the high school band.
In addition to going to a new school, Isiah also will have become accustomed to riding a school bus. In the past, his granddaddy has driven him to school.
“My house is the last on the street. Now, I’ll have to walk to the bus stop,” he said.
In early July, when the Burgins and other homeowners are allowed to move in, Isiah will return from his inaugural bike exploration and notice that the driveway leading to his house, No. 28, is one of the steepest in the neighborhood.
He’ll go into his house and maybe paint his bedroom walls and tack up posters of Cadillacs, his favorite car.
“We can do anything to our house we want, because it’s ours,” he said.
