While most of the Class of 2007 are busy getting summer jobs and preparing for college, Jake Keating, 18, of Windham said he doesn’t need either.

Last year, he started his own business, Keating Masonry. He said he has made about $18,000 already this year on top of school work.

“I’m doing great, I’m going to have a house by the end of the summer,” said Keating. He expects to make $65,000 to $70,000 by the end of the year.

“He is one of the success stories of the vocational program,” said Windham High School Principal Deb McAfee. She hired him to fix a crack in her garage and was so impressed with his workmanship that she had the school hire him to do the stonework on the new softball dugouts.

Jake’s legal name is Jameson Ashley Keating-Ehlers. His mother, Christina Keating, of Swett Road in Windham, said she started calling him by an acronym of his four names to keep people from calling him “Jamie.”

Jake Keating and his four brothers and sisters moved to Windham from Richmond, Maine five years ago. Before that, they lived in South Portland and Westbrook. Jake’s father died when he was 10.

Keating said he got in trouble a lot at school and had bad grades until Guidance Counselor Stephanie Bubier recommended the vocational school to him.

“She’s the best one ever, she does a lot,” he said of the counselor that set him on the path to his career. He said he was about to fail out of school when he met with her.

“You have to understand, not all children can be taught in the same way,” said Christina Keating. She said her son is a visual learner and has overcome a lot of problems. And she credits the Portland Arts & Technology High School where he learned masonry.

Jake Keating said he looked at welding but didn’t have an interest in it. His older brother, William, has a welding business in Gorham.

Then he checked out masonry.

“It was love at first sight, I guess you could call it,” he said.

He took masonry for three years until instructor Matthew Wentworth said there was nothing more he could teach him.

“He’s just on fire for the trade,” said Wentworth. He said Keating was a great, energetic student and the two still keep in touch. Wentworth said Keating hired some of his students to work on the softball dugout project.

“He’s got the passion, the fire and the drive,” said Wentworth.

“People think voc is easier than regular school. It’s not,” said Keating. He said regular teachers will give the answers if asked, where the vocational teachers make students figure a lot of things out for themselves.

Keating, who started his business with two $200 scholarships, said he thinks kids who go to college are usually wasting their money.

“They think they’re going to make more money,” he said. He is planning a snowmobile vacation in Alaska.

He usually works 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and takes one day off each week. He said he loves his job, and likes it even more when he hires his friends to work on jobs with him.

Keating said some of the veterans in the local masonry market were skeptical of his abilities.

“They’re used to cocky guys who know nothing,” he said.

Keating said after seeing his work they change their tune.

“I’ve proved people wrong before and I’ll do it again,” he said.

Keating said he plans to be in the next edition of the yellow pages and is working on a Web site, but is using word-of-mouth advertising right now. His business line is 650-7851.

Keating5: From left: Diego Alvarez, William Skelton and Jake Keating shortly before the Windham High School graduation ceremony.Keating6-8 Jake Keating on the job in Windham. He is shown here digging a trench for a retaining wall for a swimming pool.Keating6-8 Jake Keating on the job in Windham. He is shown here digging a trench for a retaining wall for a swimming pool.Keating6-8 Jake Keating on the job in Windham. He is shown here digging a trench for a retaining wall for a swimming pool.