Streator High woodworking students build shelter at canoe launch

Streator High School woodworking students Landon Muntz and Drew Donahue enjoyed their time building a picnic shelter at Marilla Park last spring so much that they signed on again to help construct a smaller shelter, this time at Hopalong Cassidy Canoe Launch.

“I love doing this kind of work so much,” said Muntz, a senior. “It makes you feel good to put together something like this.”

The high school’s woodworking instructor David Taylor said the goal is for the city to add a roof to the 12 foot, by 16 foot shelter. With a concrete slab already in place, Taylor’s class built the skeleton of the shelter Thursday and Friday.

A year ago, Taylor’s woodworking class took on a grander project of building a 20-foot-tall, 40-foot-long shelter at Marilla Park that took at least a week of on-site work, and much more time in the school’s shop. That picnic shelter now is in use.

This time around, Taylor said the class utilized some leftover materials and focused on a smaller project.

Muntz said the fun of working on a construction site is the obstacles that inevitably turn up.

“I really love the problem solving aspect of it,” Muntz said. “There’s going to be obstacles, but you have to come up with solutions to them when they come up. It’s a great learning experience.”

Donahue said this spring’s project went smoother than last year, but being able to construct a structure on a work site is more exciting than anything that can be done in a classroom. He said students have worked with many different tools.

“You’re basically learning how to build your own house, it’s a lot of the same ideas,” Donahue said. “I really love doing this work.”

James Pawelczyk, a senior in Taylor’s woodworking class, was getting his first taste of putting together a shelter this week.

“I love that there’s a lot of hands-on work,” said Pawelczyk, who said he took three years of welding and a year of auto shop with the vocational classes to prepare. “You get to be outside all day, and to me, nothing is better than doing that.”

Lyla Gengler, a junior in Taylor’s class, said one aspect of the project she’s observed is how everything needs to keep moving forward and everyone stay on task to keep their schedule. Taylor’s class built the shelter in two days.

“I think it’s fun to figure out how to do the different jobs,” Gengler said.

Streator Mayor Tara Bedei issued a thank you to Taylor’s class on Friday.

“This is a great opportunity for the kids to learn a valuable skill,” Bedei said. “Last year, the group built a pavilion for Marilla Park. This year, it is near the canoe launch.”

Bedei noted the riverside shelter is not quite complete yet, as the roof will need to be added.

“However, it already looks like a nice spot for a picnic.”