Students build pavilion for school district

SIKESTON, Mo. -- When the students at the city's Career and Technology Center needed a class project, the school district found them a doozy.

Rather than hire a professional contractor to add a pavilion to Sikeston High School for events like tennis tournaments and class reunions, the district's Board of Education turned to the center's students, who are learning about construction trades. They drew the plans, built the pavilion and landscaped the grounds.

"We needed a project to utilize their skills and the district had explored the possibility of a structure in the past," said Larry Bohannon, the district's assistant superintendent of curriculum and staff development. "The match seemed perfect. This project allowed students to utilize skills developed in the classroom setting and shop setting to create a real work application."

Students started work on the pavilion, next to the high school's football stadium, last spring. The scale of the project required the students to use skills that might not have been needed on a smaller class project, including plumbing, electrical work and pouring cement.

Dedication planned

The pavilion will be dedicated at a ceremony next week.

"They had a hand in it all," said Steve Hamras, who teaches construction technology at the center. "It was more of a learning experience for me as far as what I can expect from them and what I can't. The students have done extremely well, especially when you consider that some of them have never even held a power tool or swung a hammer."

The project began with the preliminary work of excavation, which presented the biggest challenge, said Adam Wicker, 19, one of the students on the project.

"We had to dig a hole out of a hill by hand at the very beginning before we brought in a backhoe," Wicker said. "The most enjoyable part was probably when the crane was brought in and we set the trusses on to make a roof. The crane did all the work."

Laura Hendley, the director of the center, said she'd like to find more hands-on construction projects of this size for students to tackle. "I think these classroom projects are a win-win situation," she said.

Hendley said. "It is beautiful and ties together our campus and provides spaces for the community to use. It's a wonderful asset to our campus, to our community and to our school district."