Three students from Schuylkill Technology Center-South Campus, Mar Lin, helped in the construction of a pavilion at the John F. Kennedy Pool Complex and Recreation Center in Pottsville over the weekend.
The wooden structure, measuring 25 by 28 feet, is in a fenced-in area near the back of the pool. The pavilion will be able to accommodate about 60 people. It will not have electricity capabilities, but it could in the future.
“It’s going to be completed in about two weeks,” Andy Wollyung, plumbing and heating instructor at the south campus, said Monday.
Wollyung said he asked students at the south campus if they wanted to help with the project. Three seniors, two boys and a girl, decided to give back to the community.
The students assisted by setting framing and lifting a truss.
“They absolutely loved it,” Wollyung said.
The students were at the pool for about eight hours Saturday with Wollyung and Dave Clark, parks foreman for Pottsville. Work on the structure started Thursday when Clark and street department employees did preliminary work to install the posts.
Before the building went up, four trees were removed Monday.
Tom Whitaker, Pottsville street department supervisor, said the trees were a safety hazard. He said the trees, that he estimated were about 60 feet tall, were mulched.
Whitaker said the location is the most appropriate spot because it is flat and wasn’t used that much because of the trees.
About $14,000 was set aside for the project for materials and labor costs.
Students from the north campus in Frackville will also work on the pavilion as part of a school project, Wollyung said. He said students from the carpentry program will do cosmetic work to the building, including installing siding, and build benches.
Whitaker said the collaboration is beneficial for the students and the city.
“It’s helping us and them,” he said.
Despite it not being finished, Whitaker said people have expressed interest in renting out the pavilion.
Anyone who wants to donate to the project can call city hall at 570-622-1234.