Apollo Students Go Beyond Class With Shelter House Project
By Zach Stipe, The Lima News, Ohio
May 31–PERRY TOWNSHIP — Standing on ladders and armed with bolts, drills, tape measures and hard hats, six Apollo Career Center students worked diligently Wednesday morning.
The students were putting the finishing touches on a shelter house located on the corner of 15th Street and Reese Avenue.
The shelter house, which will eventually have a concrete base and a picnic table, was being built for the Northwest Perry Township Revitalization Group and was expected to be completed today.
Supervising the class project was Career Center Instructor Rodney Wise.
The 50-year-old, who has been teaching for 25 years, answered questions, gave commands and critiqued the students from his building maintenance and renovation class.
“I’ve been real proud of them,” Wise said. “This is a good life experience.”
For much of the school year, Wise’s building maintenance students spent their class time doing mock projects where they learn about construction, roofing, plumbing and electricity.
But the students also tackle community projects, which give them real-world experience.
“Doing mock-ups and layouts in class are not going to be permanent,” said Wise, while peering at the nearly completed shelter house. “This will have a much bigger impact on them.”
Student Cody Johnson said that despite the morning heat the past couple of weeks, his favorite part of the year-end project was roofing the shelter house.
“It’s just fun,” said the 17-year-old from Elida.
Cody, who wants to get involved with construction, enjoys attending the Career Center.
He’s learned “how to plumb, fix pipes,” he said, pausing and staring at his work. “And build a shelter house.”
Revitalization Group President and Founder Willie Thompson plans to host the group’s annual Back to School Picnic and Health Fair at the shelter house on the second Saturday in August.
Thompson said the Northwest Perry Township area has been neglected in the past, but the revitalization group has helped the area by doing such efforts as providing smoke detectors and making sure lawns get cut.
The shelter house is another addition to the community.
“I’m just extremely happy they could do this for us,” Thompson said. “Helping others is what we all should be doing and if [the students] learn that at a young age they can carry it over.”
Wise said that the Career Center tries to do a variety of community service projects throughout the year, and recently tore down some dilapidated garages.
“The community service — you give something back to the community,” Wise said. “Maybe in a few years they can come back and show their kids what they did.”
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