My neighbor's kid approached me about helping him build up a fixed gear bike. He is starting high school this coming fall and wants to get a fixed gear bike for riding to school on and for doing tricks.

I commute, do errands, and get around town via fixed gear on an old conversion...but I don't know the first thing about tricks beyond a simple track stand and general commuting type skills.

His budget is $250 or less which rules out anything new but is still enough to get a older road bike off CL and convert it with some scratch left over.

Would he be ok with a road bike conversion?
Does he need to get a special fork or wheels or anything of the sort?