TUSCALOOSA Ala.
When Hillcrest High School Media Specialist Stephanie
Hickman needed parts of her house retiled earlier this year, she didn’t search
the Yellow Pages or classifieds for an experienced tradesman.
She found one right in her own library, studying for his 11th-grade
history class and chatting with friends.
“I heard T.J. telling one of my assistants about all
the tiling work he had to do this summer, and I was like Whaaat?, ” she
said, recalling the day she met 16-year-old Thomas “T.J.” Taylor.
“I had two bathrooms and a laundry room that were in
desperate need of help.”
Taylor had redone all of the tiling in his parents home and
just completed his first paid project for an uncle when Hickman asked him to
tile the rooms in her 70-year-old Tuscaloosa home.
And although he was busy with schoolwork and his
“real” job at a local Greek restaurant, he said expenses like his new
truck and an obsession with traditional longbow archery mean he’s always eager
to earn extra cash.
