East Aurora Advertiser

Construction Project Gives Students Experience and Saves District Money



At the end of April, students from the Construction Technology program at the Ormsby Center on Center Road began building a storage building at East Aurora High School.

Plans for this building were originally incorporated into East Aurora’s 2016 Capital Project. It was a building that was meant to have space for three functions: restrooms, concessions and outdoor storage for sports. Costs for the project came in higher than anticipated, so the board eliminated the storage aspect of the building in its bidding process.

In this photo from May of 2018, Students from the Construction Technology program at the Wallace D. Ormsby Educational Center look over the blueprints for the storage facility they are building at East Aurora High School.
Photo by Shelly Ferullo

The district still saw the need for storage in the building, so it turned to the Ormsby construction program to build this part of the facility.

“This is a creative way to get it done. Otherwise we just would have abandoned the project,” Board Member Daniel Brunson said, who first conceived the idea to turn to the vocational program for assistance. “For under $10,000 we can finish the building. If we had to do this through the normal procedures, and pay prevailing wage, it would be substantially more.”

In March, students began putting together 22 wall panels for the building, which measure 10-feet tall and 8-feet wide by pre fabricating them at Ormsby. They were stored at the maintenance building at the high school until construction began last week

“They will be a regular part of the crew over there working alongside other contractors,” Brunson said. “It’s pretty spectacular. It gives them a real experience on a construction site building something permanent. Many of these students are looking at this as a career.”

David Reed is the teacher for the students, and on the first day of construction 11 of his 13 students were outside looking over the blueprints and organizing the constructed panels to build the facility. By 9 a.m., the scaffolding had been built, the wall panels were getting organized, and the plates were down that the walls will sit on to tie to the foundation. Reed stood off to the side and monitored the students as they figured out how to begin framing a corner of the building. All of the prefabricated wall slabs were labeled.

“It’s nice to let them figure it out, and the students who understand it the most take charge and become like the supervisor,” Reed said.

Jevin Osieja is a student in the program, and he is from Holland. He said at this point in his education, he would rather be outside getting hands on experience instead of sitting in a classroom. He plans on entering the construction field someday, but he is still deciding at what capacity. He’s considering going to technical school after graduation.

“I’m looking into becoming a certified electrictrician, but first I’m taking a gap year,” he said.

Emma Cassidy, from East Aurora, has a different story. She will be studying Civil Engineering at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Utica this fall, and she said she entered the program to get construction experience. She is the only female student in the program, Reed said the other students generally follow her direction.

“Emma understands the plans and the layout, and they listen to her,” he said.

Weather permitting, these students will be outside working every morning for the next four weeks. Last year, at the request of Brunson, Reed’s students had another opportunity to work on a local construction project when they built an addition at the Rural Outreach Center on Olean Road. Ten years ago, they built the maintenance building at East Aurora High School. Without these projects, students would still be building in the classroom, but it would be mockups on a smaller scale that would also need to be taken down.

“In 10 years these kids can drive by and think ‘I built that.’ It’s something that will be permanent,” Reed said.

Brunson isn’t sure how much the district is saving from the students building this component of the annex building. The other two building sections – restrooms and concessions – will be going out to bid again with other pieces involved with Phase II of the capital project. It is anticipated that the board will be accepting bids in June and construction for the remainder of the project will begin over the summer.

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