"When I took the job as varsity softball coach, we didn't have any restroom facilities (at the ballpark). So, I asked the administration at the school if we could build them, if we could get some volunteer labor," said Rick Stringer, Scioto Tech welding instructor and South Webster softball coach. "Working out here, it was a natural idea to ask (Larry Moore, Scioto Tech masonry instructor) to come out and lay the blocks."
Stringer said Moore and his 15 masonry students from Scioto Tech laid all of the block for the restroom facility at the South Webster ballpark.
"We started at the end of the school year in 2007, and we finished it up this year ... in October or November, somewhere in that neighborhood," Moore said.
According to Moore, students started with a pre-existing footer - the building's foundation - and laid the block according to commercial building standards.
"We take classroom time and figure out how many blocks it takes, how much mortar we need, and all the material in the job ... then we will sit and figure that as an actual job. After we finish that, we go to the job site and begin laying," he said.
In addition to Moore's students laying masonry blocks, Stringer's welding students also were put to work on the metal trim and security gates.
"It's a small scale commercial building, so they could take this knowledge and go out and start working on a school ... " Moore said.
Since the students of Scioto Tech completed their work last fall, the school has been working to add the roof and doors, and now are waiting for the final plumbing and electrical inspection. A concession stand also was added to the building, and the restrooms will be made handicap-accessible.
"It won't be used for the high school season because it's about wrapped up, but I'm pretty sure the South Webster Little League and any school that comes up there to play will be able to use the facility for the remainder of the summer," Stringer said.
Having completed their project at South Webster, the Scioto Tech students next will move on to building a similar structure for Valley High School.
Aside from the communal benefit these buildings create, students also come out of the program at Scioto Tech with a benefit of their own - real- world work experience and a standing structure they built.
"I know firsthand, from having been a student here, these kids are going to drive by these facilities and see the South Webster concession stand or restrooms and they're going to say, 'I worked on that job,'" said Scioto Tech superintendent Stan Jennings.
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