West Lafayette teen spends 800 hours making mansion out of popsicle sticks

One local teen spent his time away from school in quarantine pushing himself to create something that he never thought he could.

News 18 spoke with the young man about how turning his vision into reality created a passion he never knew was there.

In quarantine pushing himself to create something that he never thought he could.

News 18's marvin bills spoke with the young man about how turning his vision into reality created a passion he never knew was there.

18-year-old alec meister found a new way to keep busy during this pandemic.

"i've always wanted to build some type of model."

He created a mansion made out of popsicle sticks.

"the idea just popped into my head one day."

Meister spent a total of 800 hours and 8,000 popsicle sticks making this mansion.

Meister says being a track athlete for west lafayette junior/senior high school he's not one to spend his down time building things.

"i'm one that usually sits on my phone a bit.

So for me to get off my phone and do something different was a big thing."

Meister says he had vision to create something so he did it and in doing so he found his passion, which ultimately led him to his vision now, which is to become a professional architect.

"i'm super bummed that school ended and i didn't have a final track season.

But if that wouldn't have happened then, if quarantine wouldn't have happened then i wouldn't have never been able to build something like this."

Meister is planning to attend ball state university for college in the fall and major in architecture.

He says he'll continue building things now that he's learned he has the patience for it and enjoys it.

"this was kind of a test to see if i would be able to hold up with architecture and i like it so.."

In west lafayette, marvin bills news 18.

Alec had a drive-by graduation celebration today where he displayed his popsicle mansion for family and