CONSTRUCTION BRINGS
UNIQUE OPPORTUNITIES
FOR STUDENTS AT PTHS
F
or an architecture and engineering teacher, having an
active, major construction site willing to welcome your
students is a great educational opportunity. Having that
construction site be your future High School, well, that’s
too good to pass up.
“As teachers we can only talk so much,” said Peters Township
High School teacher Fred Burns. “Giving our students the
opportunity to see a project from design to construction first-
hand is invaluable.”
In the fall of 2018, as work was getting underway at the site
of the new Peters Township High School, Mike Arnold from
Reynolds Construction, the construction manager for the
project, contacted the District regarding a collaborative program
for students. His idea was to expose a small group of students
to architecture, engineering and construction management
through a series of visits to the site.
“A project like a new high school is a pretty big deal for a
community, and we want the project to be a partnership,” said
Arnold who is Vice President of Construction Management
Services with Reynolds. “Many of these students are trying to
figure out what they want to do for their career and we have a
unique opportunity to help with that.”
To get started, Burns worked with the Building Administration
to put together a list of students who would be interested in the
Students tour the site with the construction manager.
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PETERS TOWNSHIP
venture. Coming up with a list of students was easy – many are
third year architecture students at the High School. Others who
are interested in pursuing architecture at college also made it to
the list. While many were initially interested, the numbers were
kept small in order to ensure the safety of the students while at
the construction site.
Arnold and the team from Reynolds Construction were also
joined by members of the architecture firm, Hayes Design Group
Architects who created the design for the new school. Mark
Duane, Principal Architect and Matt Dawson, Design Associate
were eager to get involved, as they are both former Peters
Township students themselves.
“Working on the new PTHS was a such a rewarding
experience,” said Dawson. “The opportunity to play a role in the
design of a project that would have a lasting impact to my own
community was personally fulfilling.”
Mike Arnold talks with the students about the careers involved on the project.