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BOCES Tech Students Work to Finish Mahopac Field House
 | | Masonry Student Frank Polito (Mahopac) is one of more than 25 BOCES Tech Center students involved in construction of the community-sponsored field house. |
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Learning on the job, 27 Masonry and Plumbing students from The Tech Center at BOCES have been building interior walls and installing pipes at Mahopac High School's field house, working several mornings a week with the goal of completing the community sponsored project by spring.
Braving the variable weather, the students are getting handson instruction and experience at the 20- by 90-foot unheated structure, begun three years ago as a collaborative effort of the school and community volunteers. The building will eventually hold restrooms, a kitchen, and concession stand adjacent to the school's athletic fields. The project is supported entirely by student and community contributions of materials and labor.
The BOCES students, from a variety of school districts, including Putnam Valley, regularly attend Tech Center classes."We come out in all the elements," says student Graham Lawson. Does he have a sense of pride in being part of this project? "Exactly," Mr. Lawson says. "This will be here years from now." "This is a real community effort," says Jim Ucci, BOCES Plumbing teacher. "Everything's been donated. It's all volunteer labor. Local 21 of the plumbers union laid the pipes; Local 5 retired masons Everett Cantamessa and Art Bunaye helped BOCES students build the exterior block structure and somebody else put in the concrete slab and put the roof on."
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